German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on September 15 and met with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Following the talks, the Uzbek and German governments signed a migration agreement that would allow skilled workers from Uzbekistan to travel to Germany, with a focus on the health-care sector, RFE/RL reported.
It is also intended to speed repatriation of Uzbek citizens living in Germany without legal residence authorization. An estimated 13,700 Uzbeks reside in Germany, with the vast majority holding legal residency permits, according to dpa.
“With our agreement on migration and mobility signed today in Samarkand in Uzbekistan, we are enabling people with great talents to enter our country. Also, we committed to un-bureaucratic processes so that those who cannot stay in our country must go back,” Scholz wrote on X.
It was said during negotiations between President Mirziyoyev and Chancellor Scholz that trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Germany last year exceeded 1 billion euros. Cooperation with German business is expanding. Since the beginning of the year, German companies have invested 800 million euros in the economy of Uzbekistan.
A strategic Industrial and Technological Partnership Program has been prepared for the current summit, which includes cooperation projects with leading German companies and banks for 9 billion euros. They cover areas such as green energy, the chemical industry, the development of critical raw materials, mechanical engineering, the textile industry, and the production of building materials.
On September 16 in Samarkand, President Mirziyoyev and Chancellor Scholz held a joint meeting with representatives of leading companies and banks from the two countries. Scholz’s trip will continue in Kazakhstan on September 16-17 for the second meeting of the Central Asia plus Germany format that was launched a year ago in Berlin.
