Central Asia receives nearly 57% of all Asian investments, totaling US $68 billion. The key recipients are Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. This was stated in the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) report titled “The Eurasian Region and Partner Countries in Asia: Analysis of Investment Flows Based on EDB Mutual Investment Monitoring.”
According to the report, the category of Asian countries includes China, the Gulf states, Türkiye, India, Vietnam, and others.
The study highlights the top five largest investment projects in Central Asia involving Asian countries. These include:
- Dragon Oil’s flagship project in Turkmenistan is one of the UAE’s largest long-term projects in Central Asia. Since the early 2000s, the company has been investing in the development of the Jeytun and Jigalybeg fields on the Turkmen shelf of the Caspian Sea, with investment stock reaching $10 billion as of the first half of 2025. The investments are being made under a production sharing agreement, using a combination of equity and borrowed funds, and demonstrate a steady growth in capital. The extension of the agreement until 2035 consolidates the project as a long-term pillar of the power partnership between the UAE and Turkmenistan and creates a stable channel for the latter to attract large institutional investors.
- CNPC’s comparable project in the Bagtyyarlyk gas cluster in Turkmenistan is a key link in the power corridor from Turkmenistan to China through Central Asia. The FDI stock has reached $9.4 billion. Most of the investment was made between 2008 and 2022 in the form of initial investments in production and supply infrastructure. The project is financed through a combination of CNPC’s equity and borrowed funds and is linked to longterm contracts for gas exports to China.
- Sinopec’s investments in Caspian Investment Resources’ assets in Kazakhstan. The FDI stock was estimated at approximately $2.07 billion as of the first half of 2025 and has remained stable over the past few years. The 2010 deal and the subsequent formation of a stake in 2015 ensured that the project came under the control of a major Chinese state-owned player, which strengthened the cross-border integration of oil chains.
- China Energy’s project to build photovoltaic power plants with a total capacity of 2 GW in Uzbekistan. The investment is estimated at $2 billion, to be made in 2023–2024 as an initial investment using the company’s own funds. By early 2024, the first 1 GW of capacity had already been connected to the grid.
- CNPC’s participation in CNPC-Aktobemunaigaz in Kazakhstan. The FDI stock was $1.6 billion by the first half of 2025, with the book value declining due to depreciation and recalculations.
Key factors shaping the investment attractiveness of Central Asian countries:
• A rich resource base and high potential for further infrastructure development. Large deposits of oil, gas, metals, including rare earths, and growing power demand make the region a natural target for foreign capital with experience in raw materials extraction and construction. New technological opportunities and the experience of foreign companies in the field of renewable power (wind, solar in desert areas) and industrial cooperation have been added to this, expanding the range of investment opportunities.
• Improvement of the regional investment climate. Growing competition for FDI among Central Asian countries is encouraging them to implement reforms. In recent years, Uzbekistan has become a leader in attracting investment. Kazakhstan is also improving its national legislation by creating instruments to support investors. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are attracting interest in investment projects in hydropower and other sectors. Taken together, this increases the region’s attractiveness to foreign investors. Central Asia has essentially become the most attractive region for investment in Eurasia.
• Central Asia is the main beneficiary of the shift in FDI geography in the Eurasian region. A significant portion of FDI has moved to Central Asia from other countries in the Eurasian region. In the coming years, we can expect further growth in its share of the regional FDI portfolio.
Eurasian region refers to the region comprising 13 countries for the purposes of this report: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. ///nCa, 4 February 2026