First of all, I want to thank President Mirziyoyev for his amazing hospitality. António and I agree: Samarkand is breathtaking. We have visited Samarkands historic treasures – Registan Square, the Ulugh Beg Observatory, and the Amir Temur Mausoleum. This ancient city has been at the crossroads of many civilizations for centuries. This is why it is such a fitting venue for the first EU-Central Asia Summit.

This marks the beginning of a new chapter in our longstanding friendship. Central Asia is a partner of choice for us. Today, we have launched the new Strategic Partnership. It means we can rely on each other, which is more important than ever in todays world.

The political will to deepen our cooperation has never been clearer. As a great start to this new chapter, we have launched a package of EUR 12 billion for the region in our Global Gateway investment program. It has four priorities. The first is transport, to bring our regions closer together. A flagship project is the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor, where the European Union is investing EUR 10 billion. The second element is climate, energy, and water. This is crucial to protect the land, our nature, and our climate – and we just had a very successful Climate Forum here in Samarkand. We are also building gigantic dams – the Rogun dam and the Kambarata dam – to support the regions water and energy security. And we are creating a new green belt in the Aral Sea basin, for the desert to bloom with life again. The third topic is digital. It concerns our world-class satellites. We are partnering to bring internet via our satellites to the most remote areas of the region. Because we all know that when the internet arrives at a school or a village, it creates fantastic new opportunities. Here, we want to connect remote villages, schools, and hospitals via the ground stations for the satellites.

Finally, on the critical raw materials, the materials we all need to power the clean transition and economy of tomorrow. Central Asia has a significant share of global reserves. Europe wants to make a fair offer, a special offer. As partners, we want to build local value chains for the critical minerals. This means that the value created here in the region stays here and creates good jobs. Because we think that when our partners grow, Europe grows too. This is our vision of a fair partnership. This is the Global Gateway approach. I am very glad to see our partners so determined to implement these great projects together.

So thank you very much. I am honored to be part of this historic Summit here in Samarkand.