During a press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan on 17 February 2026, Ambassador of Germany to Turkmenistan Bernd Heinze delivered remarks underscoring the significance of the recent high-level meeting between Germany and the five Central Asian states.
The meeting, held in Berlin on 11 February 2026, brought together foreign ministers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and a deputy minister from Turkmenistan with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in the “Central Asia – Germany” format (often referred to as Z5+1 or C5+1).
Ambassador Heinze described the motto of the gathering as “Central Asia, a partner of choice for Germany.”
According to the ambassador, the meeting — which took place just last week — was complemented by an economic forum attended by 130 representatives from German businesses and associations, representing thousands of companies. Prior to the ministerial discussions, Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier received the Central Asian delegations.
Heinze emphasized that the meeting aligned with the European Union’s Team Europe approach toward Central Asia. Discussions centered on further strengthening political and economic relations between Germany, the European Union, and the Central Asian region. The aim was to make reliable offers to the Central Asian states and to deepen our partnership, also bearing in mind the region’s dependencies on Russia, he noted.
Since 2023, Germany has maintained a strategic regional partnership with the countries of Central Asia.
“And by the way, this is our only strategic regional partnership. Germany has no regional strategic partnership with anybody else in the whole world, just with Central Asia”, ambassador emphasized.
The Berlin talks focused on key sectors including the business environment, energy, raw materials, connectivity, security, and regional cooperation.
The ambassador highlighted the presence of EU Special Representative for Central Asia Eduards Stiprais at the meeting as a clear signal of Germany’s commitment to the Team Europe framework. Germany views its regional engagement as fully integrated into the broader EU strategy. The shared goal is to strengthen political, economic and infrastructure ties between Central Asia and Europe.
German companies have maintained a long-standing presence in Central Asia, contributing investments and creating value-added jobs.
Ambassador Heinze expressed hope that Turkmenistan would seize the opportunities presented by the EU’s outreach in the economic and business spheres to benefit from collaboration with one of the world’s major economies.
He added that the Berlin meeting will help prepare for the next summit, which could take place later this year.
The remarks by Ambassador Heinze came amid the broader review of Turkmenistan-EU cooperation in 2025 and plans for 2026, as discussed at the same briefing. The event underscored the growing momentum in multilateral formats linking Central Asia more closely with Europe and Germany in particular. ///nCa, 17 February 2026