71 million euros for eight projects: Berlin's new commitment to Uzbekistan is smaller than expected
Central Asia Column “Steppe Ahead”
71 million euros for eight projects: The German-Uzbek government negotiations in Tashkent concluded on October 7 with this commitment. The funds will be allocated in 2026 and 2027 to vocational training, power grids, and social protection, as the German Embassy informed the Uzbek news site Gazeta.uz. The amount is significantly lower than in the previous round: In October 2024, according to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Berlin had pledged up to 176 million euros over two years.
Vocational training, power grids, social protection: where the money is going
The projects are being implemented by the KfW development bank, the GIZ development agency, and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt on behalf of the German government. According to the embassy, the agreement includes programs for trade and the private sector, the modernization of vocational training based on the German dual system, resource efficiency and renewable energy, as well as the expansion of the power transmission grid. In addition, there are plans for improved social protection for vulnerable groups and standardization and metrology—the latter being the domain of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt. According to the Azerbaijani news agency Trend, the Uzbek Ministry of Investment also cites the green economy, technical regulation, and public administration as key priorities. The Uzbek delegation was led by Deputy Minister of Investment Akram Aliyev. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development also identifies good governance, municipal water supply, and health as key areas of cooperation.
Christiane Amari, head of the Division for Central Asia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, led the German delegation. According to Gazeta.uz, she reaffirmed Germany’s support for the “Uzbekistan 2030” reform strategy and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Negotiations have been taking place in regular rounds for more than 30 years; Uzbekistan is Germany’s only partner country for development cooperation in Central Asia. The financial trend is downward: According to the ministry, Berlin pledged 152 million euros for financial cooperation and 24 million euros for technical cooperation in 2024, totaling up to 176 million euros. The new commitment amounts to only 40% of that figure.
Trade is growing rapidly but remains one-sided
Declining aid funds are offset by growing trade. Bilateral trade reached approximately $1.4 billion in 2025, 2.3 times as much as in 2016. This is shown in an infographic published in June by the Uzbek government newspaper Yangi O’zbekiston. According to the news channel Euronews, trade volume has increased by another 5% since the beginning of the year. The balance remains skewed: In 2025, Uzbekistan supplied goods and services worth 145.6 million U.S. dollars to Germany, with just over a third of that amount consisting of services and just under a third consisting of manufactured goods. Imports from Germany totaled $1.3 billion, accounting for over 90% of total trade. More than half of this amount consisted of machinery, equipment, and vehicles.
German investments and loans totaled $983.5 million in 2025, following a total of $5.7 billion over the previous nine years. There are 244 companies with German capital operating in the country, 133 of which are wholly owned by Germans. At the German Business Days in Tashkent in May, both sides signed contracts worth more than 1 billion U.S. dollars. According to Euronews, Volkswagen is planning manufacturing projects, and Henkel is launching new investments. “German technology is well known and respected here,” Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the broadcaster during his visit to Tashkent in June.
A Small Lever in a Rapidly Growing Market
In this context, the 71 million euros represent a small lever. The World Bank raised its growth forecast for Uzbekistan from 6.4% to 7.9% for 2026 in early October, reports Trend. The country is thus growing more than three times as fast as the global economy, for which the World Bank expects 2.5% growth. At the same time, competition is intensifying: 6,436 companies with Chinese capital stand in contrast to 244 German ones. For Berlin, therefore, the direction of the projects matters more than the total amount. Dual vocational training and power grids target two bottlenecks that directly affect German investors: skilled workers and energy supply. This creates publicly co-financed demand for German providers of training, grid, and measurement technology.
It remains to be seen whether this will be enough. So far, Uzbekistan has financed its trade deficit with Germany through loans and investment inflows. When it comes to personnel, Germany is competing with itself: According to Euronews, more than 400,000 Uzbeks are learning German, and over 2,000 are studying at German universities. The skilled-worker agreement reached in 2024 tends to direct well-educated Uzbeks toward Germany rather than to the new local training centers. The next round of negotiations will show whether Berlin will increase its commitments again or continue the shift from aid to trade.
Source: Gazeta.uz, Trend, Euronews, Yangi O’zbekiston, BMZ (EN), Spot.uz (RU)