Yiannis Neophytou, Head of Division at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), held a working meeting as part of his mission to Central Asia with Batyr Mammedov, Executive Director of the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC), in Almaty on June 1, 2025.
The German delegation - Joachim Fritz, Country Director for GIZ in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, Volker Frobarth, Cluster Coordinator for Climate, Water, and Energy in Central Asia at GIZ, Andreas Schneider, Director of the Regional Office of KfW Development Bank in Central Asia, and Matthias Kiesler, Consul General of Germany in Almaty – headed by Yiannis Neophytou and the CAREC team, headed by Batyr Mammedov, discussed a bunch of issues on further cooperation.
Batyr Mammedov provided an overview of CAREC’s activities, highlighting its role as a platform for dialogue and collaboration with various stakeholders and partners.
CAREC program managers presented the achievements and results of ongoing and completed projects implemented with financial support from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). They outlined prospects for the development of further partnerships.
During the meeting, the special role of the German Government, through GIZ, was emphasized in supporting regional cooperation in Central Asia, particularly in addressing water resource management and climate risk challenges, as well as in strengthening CAREC’s potential as a recognized regional platform for knowledge exchange and coordination in the Central Asian region.