ASTANA – The European Investment Bank’s global arm, EIB Global, signed a 200 million ($218 million) euro loan agreement with the Development Bank of Kazakhstan on March 13. In an interview with The Astana Times, EIB Global Director General Andrew McDowell breaks down key details and explains why Kazakhstan and Central Asia are becoming increasingly important for both the bank and the EU.
Andrew McDowell. Photo credit: Nargiz Raimbekova/ The Astana Times
The deal, unveiled as part of the visit of EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Josef Sikela to Kazakhstan, underscores Brussels’s deepening engagement with Central Asia.
“The European Investment Bank is the bank of the European Union, and our mission is to finance win-win partnerships between the European Union and countries around the world. And what we announced today is exactly in line with that,” said McDowell, whose branch focuses on strengthening international partnerships and development finance, playing a key role in the EU’s Global Gateway initiative.
The bank aims to support 100 billion euros ($109 billion) in investment by 2027, contributing to around a third of the Global Gateway’s total target.
Details of the loan agreement
The funding will support KazAvtoZhol, Kazakhstan’s national road operator, in its nationwide road rehabilitation program, enhancing connectivity and infrastructure quality.
DBK Chairman Marat Yelibayev and EDB Global Director General Andrew McDowell shake hands after signing the agreement on March 13 in Astana. Photo credit: EIB
It will facilitate investments by both public and private sectors in sustainable transport infrastructure, including the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) that connects China to European markets via Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Caspian Sea, by financing 5,000 kilometers of roads linked to the corridor.
According to the bank, this marks the first tangible outcome of the four memorandums of understanding signed by EIB Global with the DBK and Central Asian countries at the EU-Central Asia Investors Forum in January 2024.
“We also see the potential to do a lot more in the area of roads, not just rehabilitation, but in the financing of actually new road construction, consistent with Kazakhstan’s announced plans for significant investment in this area,” McDowell said.
Opportunities extend beyond roads to ports and border connectivity, critical to ensuring seamless trade.
“There’s no point improving the roads all the way up to a border if then all the traffic is stuck at the border because the latest technologies and trade facilitation techniques are not being used,” he said. “This is an area that we have lots of experience in from Europe as part of Europe’s own gradual integration process over the last 60 years.”
Europe has faced similar challenges, requiring investments not only in hard and physical infrastructure but also in technology, capacity building, customs processing, and data transfer.
“That’s an area where we’d like to share our experience and also support it with our financing,” he said.
The funding will also support projects aimed at expanding renewable energy sources and advancing other climate-focused initiatives, aligning with Kazakhstan’s net-zero goal of 2060 and the EU’s climate targets.
“We did that in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister and the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, and it was a great sense of pride for us in the European Investment Bank to bring to a conclusion a discussion that we’ve been having with the Development Bank of Kazakhstan over the last 12 months,” he added.
Untapped opportunities for cooperation
“For the European Investment Bank, we follow, obviously, the policies of the European Union, and the European Union has made it extremely clear that there is a relationship of mutual benefit. Obviously, the European Union is already Kazakhstan’s largest trade and investment partner. That’s something we want to build on,” said McDowell.
Trade between Kazakhstan and the EU reached $48.8 billion in 2024, according to the latest figures from Kazakhstan’s Bureau of National Statistics. Since 2005, EU investments in the Kazakh economy have surpassed $200 billion, almost half of the total foreign direct investments in the country.
Connectivity is of substantial interest to the EU
McDowell sees many untapped opportunities, including in transport and logistics, where Kazakhstan has invested heavily in the past few years.
Assel Satubaldina and Andrew McDowell during an interview on March 13 in Astana. Photo credit: Nargiz Raimbekova/ The Astana Times
“Obviously reinforcing transport links between not just Kazakhstan and the European Union, but, indeed, the entire Central Asia and Asia, in general, and the European Union, to reduce to perhaps even 12 days the possibility of freight transport, even from East Asia into the European Union, providing an alternative route compared to shipping and other transport routes is something of huge interest in EU from a strategic and economic perspective. We think Kazakhstan can play a huge role in that and benefit from that connectivity,” he said.
Digital connectivity is an equally important area. Under the Global Gateway strategy, the EU mobilizes 55 billion euros ($60 billion) for projects in this area in Central Asia.
McDowell revealed there will be “further announcements” regarding the support EIB seeks to provide in satellite broadband.
Renewables and critical raw materials
“We also see great potential in renewable energy collaboration. Obviously, this is an area of great strength for the European Union in terms of technology and industrial powerhouses. We see the potential to support Kazakhstan’s own ambition to decarbonize the economy gradually over the course of 2060 and also in the area of critical raw materials,” said McDowell.
“Kazakhstan is clearly setting out an ambition, quite understandably, to benefit from its natural wealth in the 35 critical raw materials that have been mapped in Kazakhstan. Obviously, Europe has a lot of need and demand for critical raw materials for industries like the automobile sector as part of the transition to electric vehicles,” he added.
McDowell describes it as a “real win-win partnership” focused not just on extracting raw materials and bringing them to Europe but on helping Kazakhstan build its local processing capacity. This, he noted, will ultimately benefit local communities.
“Our value proposition in this particular area is the expertise that we bring in 60 years of supporting exploration and extraction industries around not just the technical requirements and the technical challenges, but also the environmental and social challenges of doing this in a sustainable way,” said McDowell.
Drawing from their experience, McDowell emphasized their firm belief that what makes environmental sense and social sense makes financial sense. The most considerable risk to major projects is a lack of local support.
“Because projects that are badly done, they poison water supplies, or they undermine labor rights, health and safety conditions. That is the cause of the failure of so many critical raw material projects in many countries around the world, not in Kazakhstan, but around the world. Getting those things right is fundamental to the long-term financial sustainability of these projects,” he said.
Expectations from the upcoming EU-Central Asia Summit
With just weeks to go before the EU-Central Asia summit in Samarkand, expectations are mounting as both sides look to deepen economic ties and expand cooperation across key sectors.
“Regional Central Asian cooperation with Europe has moved to a new level of collaboration. That reflects, I suppose, the changed geopolitical context the world is in. I think Europe has really woken up to the need to intensify its relationships and prioritize the relationships with this particular region,” said McDowell.
This commitment is mutual, he added, as Central Asia leaders are also keen to diversify the partnerships.
“There is a win-win partnership here for both sides. The summit that’s coming up in Samarkand, I think, is a moment in time where that stepping up in the level of engagement between Europe and the region can be marked and celebrated,” he said.
When asked about further financial commitments from the EIB, McDowell said they are committed to growing their presence and financing for the region of Central Asia, which is “in line with the increased level of European Union’s prioritization of the region” under the Global Gateway.
“The European Investment Bank is expected to play a bigger role in this region in support of Global Gateway and the ambitions of the European Union. I think you can be confident of seeing the European Investment Bank more present, more visible and more supportive over the coming years,” he said.
