Russia, Central Asian Trade Reached US$45 Billion In 2024, Investment To Be Increased

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has been attending the Russia-Central Asia summit currently being held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan and has stated that the volume of mutual trade between Russia and Central Asian countries rose by 4% in the 7M January-July 2025.

He added that “There is a full transition towards the use of national currencies in mutual settlements. Russia is firmly committed to further strengthening strategic partnership and alliance with your countries, and to deepening mutually beneficial political, economic, and humanitarian ties. In all these areas, we have already achieved truly strong results. Last year, Russia’s trade turnover with the Central Asian states exceeded US$45 billion.”

Overall, he described this as a good result, but added a lot more could be done, stating that “I would like to draw your attention to this: I always cite the following example in such cases – tomorrow Alexander Lukashenko will take part in our work within the CIS framework, and Russia’s trade turnover with Belarus exceeds US$50 billion.”

Russia’s total investment in the economies of Central Asian countries amounts to US$20 billion, and this is insufficient, Putin said. “Russia is one of the leading investors in the economies of the Central Asian countries. The cumulative volume of Russian investments exceeds US$20 billion. I believe that is rather modest.”

Central Asia includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with these countries members of either the Eurasian Economic Union or the Commonwealth of Independent States.