In the early years of independence, Germany played a very active role in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, since many ethnic Germans lived in these countries, whose ancestors at the beginning of the Second World War were sent there from the Volga (where they lived for almost 200 years). According to German laws, these people had the right to repatriation to Germany. After the reunification of Germany, the German authorities became increasingly difficult to find funds to continue the policy of repatriation of ethnic Germans from the former Soviet Union, so they began to make targeted investments, at the same time creating jobs for this group of population, and contributing to the rise of the local economy as a whole, in the hope that This will prompt ethnic Germans to stay in the region. However, these investments only slowed down very little (if they slowed down at all) the outflow of the German population.
The largest Korean investor in the region is Daewoo Corporation, which invested $ 1.4 billion. to the production of cars in Uzbekistan to sell them throughout Central Asia. The work of the Daewoo plant depends on the components manufactured in neighboring states, so in most countries the regions these cars have a preferential tariff status of products produced by a joint venture. After a relatively successful start, this program was faced with difficulties that were partly related to the weakening of their own positions Daewoo after the Asian crisis of 1998., and partly – with tightening the conditions of trade after the start of the implementation of the economic program adopted by Uzbekistan in 2000.
One of the most important joint projects of Europeans and Asians was the program for improving the transport routes going through the region bypassing Russia. The main source of financing of the project “Traceca” (transport corridor Europe – the Caucasus – Asia), which provides for the creation of a new system of trading routes from Europe through the Black Sea, the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea to Central Asia, is the EBRD. It is planned to create new ones and the improvement of existing transport routes, and the project is moving at least slowly, but steadily. When it is completed, the time of transit from China to Europe will be reduced to several days. The main driving force of the Traceca project is the desire of Europeans to take advantage of the more and more expanding Chinese market, simultaneously contributing to the development of the markets of Ukraine and the Caspian states so that European goods there take the place of Russian. The slow pace of the implementation of this project allow Europeans to invest, taking into account changes in market conditions and make it possible to suspend it if the market development slows down or any riots arise.
