European Union and Central Asia: new trends of cooperation in current circumstances

Abstract

Determination of clear contours of European policy for Central Asia, which could satisfy the interests of both the European Union and the countries of the region, took quite a long time, and is still at the stage of forming common approaches to the implementation of mutually beneficial cooperation. The first program documents of the European Union in relation to Central Asia, called strategies, were to a greater extent only action plans aimed at maintaining its political and economic presence in the region. Meanwhile, the Central Asian countries are always interested in pragmatic interaction with the European Union on equal basis. In 2019, the European Union adopted a new Strategy for Central Asia, which replaced the previous 2007 document. According to European politicians, it marks a new stage in relations between the two regions with improved approaches to building interaction between them. The purpose of the article is to analyze new trends in relations between Central Asia and the European Union from the point of view of both participants of this process and the evolution of the relevant EU policy documents.