From 19– 20 September 2025, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the academic programme validation event of the project “Connectivity for Central Asia” (C4CA) took place It was organized by Riga Technical University (RTU) in cooperation with Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFCA), acting as Latvia’s development cooperation agency. During the event, an academic cooperation model within the initiative was discussed with 5 universities from Uzbekistan and 1 from Tajikistan. As a result of the two-day validation event, closer cooperation was established with universities from Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khujand. With RTU’s support, these universities are expected to develop collaboration in the fields of innovation, satellite technologies, and data analytics, thereby not only promoting cooperation between Latvia and Central Asian countries, but also strengthening the capacity of local specialists.
On 22 September, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the operational committee meeting of the same project was held, during which the results achieved in 2025 were presented. Representatives from all involved agencies participated, including the lead partner Expertise France (France), CFCA (Latvia), HAUS (Finland), CPMA (Lithuania), eGA (Estonia), RTU (Latvia), LITC (Latvia), as well as representatives from the European Union Delegation, who positively evaluated the achievements. During the meeting, the new leadership of the initiative from Expertise France was introduced: Ukrainian expert Andriy Mitskan as the new initiative leader, supported by Deputy Julia Schweitzer from France.
From 23–26 September, the annual ICT conference “Tashkent ICT Week” is taking place in Tashkent. It is considered the most significant ICT event in the region, offering an opportunity to explore the latest developments in the sector both in Uzbekistan and globally. This year, within the framework of the conference, the Latvian IT Cluster, in cooperation with Expertise France and CPMA, organized panel discussions to promote cooperation between European and Central Asian experts in digitalization and satellite technologies. Several panels featured representatives from government institutions of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, as well as leading European experts, including those from Latvia. Notably, the panel discussions were opened by the new Latvian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Ģirts Jaunzems and the Head of the EU Delegation to Central Asia Johannes Baur.
The C4CA initiative is funded by the European Union under the “Global Gateway” programme iand is implemented in partnership with France, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, and Latvia.