合法博彩网站

In 2019, the EU updated its strategy on Central Asia, to take account of new developments and opportunities for partnership and cooperation 鈥� both with the region as a whole and with its five individual countries (C5), taking into account the differences between them and their interests and requirements. The strategy aims to support sustainable development based on democracy, good governance and human rights and to boost trade and investment between the EU and Central Asia. In 2022 and 2023, the Central Asian Heads of State and the President of the European Council held their first-ever high-level meetings, resulting in the preparation of a further joint roadmap for deepening ties between the EU and Central Asia. The first-ever EU鈥揅entral Asia leaders' summit is due to take place in 2024, formalising the C5 + EU cooperation at the highest political level, and will be an opportunity to match the EU's political relevance in the region with its status of major donor and investor. This intensification of high-level contacts reflects Central Asia's growing geostrategic importance in the light of further global developments. The changing geopolitical situation created after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as well as the security threats derived from the West's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, have generated new challenges in the region, which have become, at the same time, opportunities for the Central Asian countries to emerge as regional political actors in their own right. The changes also provide further avenues for partnership and cooperation in areas such as energy, raw materials and connectivity, alongside a focus on human rights and democracy, where issues remain. 合法博彩网站 has welcomed the intensification of high-level relations between the EU and Central Asia. In view of the region's growing geostrategic importance and common challenges, it strongly encourages the EU to step up its engagement and review the current strategy in order to update it in the light of recent geopolitical events.