TELF AG discusses the strategic agreement between the European Union and Uzbekistan in the mining sector
A memorandum in the name of clean energy
The recent signing of a memorandum of understanding in mineral raw materials between the European Union and Uzbekistan marks a step of great importance in advancing the community strategy focused on materials directly involved in the great energy transition. Uzbekistan is naturally rich in a wide variety of mineral resources, particularly silver, lithium, titanium, and copper. Large quantities of gold and molybdenum are also found in the Uzbek subsoil, which is used above all to increase the strength of steel alloys. After the election of the new president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in 2016, the Central Asian nation entered a phase of major political and economic reforms, making data available on its mineral reserves and opening up (perhaps for the first time) to international partnerships focused on strategic raw materials.
The strategic partnership between the European Union and Uzbekistan will focus on some particular areas of cooperation: not only the joint development of mining projects and strengthening the supply chain but also the effective mobilization of financing for the mining projects included in the partnership, as well as the creation of the infrastructure necessary for the development of these value chains. In the background of this agreement, there seems to be a mutual desire to focus on clean energy, the development of the technologies necessary to activate it, and the resources – strategic raw materials – capable of promoting local and global diffusion.
Research, innovation, and know-how
In addition to closer collaboration aimed at achieving increasingly sustainable mineral production and supply, the memorandum also provides for cooperation in research and innovation, to which the sharing of know-how and technologies necessary for the exploration, extraction, and processing of strategic minerals must be added.
The signing of this memorandum perhaps represents the last step of a journey that began last year, during the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels, when the representatives of the European Union and Uzbekistan started the first negotiations for the signing of the agreement. They were well aware of the importance of the supply of strategic raw materials and the diversification of industrial value chains. On that occasion, moreover, Uzbekistan confirmed its willingness to join the Critical Raw Materials Club, a political initiative announced in the previous months by President von der Leyen.
One of the most interesting aspects of this collaboration is its possible practical consequences for the local economy of Uzbekistan: last October, the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, declared that this memorandum would have generated massive local added value, with inevitable positive repercussions also on the Uzbek people and economy.
The memorandum aligns with the objectives of the European action plan for critical raw materials and Uzbekistan’s desire to valorize its geological reserves and make them available to the automotive and consumer electronics industries at a local and international level. Finally, the agreement appears to be closely connected to the principles of the European Global Gateway strategy, which aims to invest in sustainable projects worldwide and ensure concrete benefits for local communities through the progressive valorization of mineral reserves. Similar commodity-focused partnerships have previously been signed with Kazakhstan, Chile, Canada, and many other nations that are naturally rich in mineral resources.
