BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 29. The UK is committed to increasing trade and energy cooperation with Central Asian countries, including via sustainable transport links, Kenan Poleo, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region and British Consul General, Istanbul, told TurkicWorld.

The 'Middle Corridor' project can assist in boosting trade sustainability by improving connectivity from the Kazakh/Chinese border to the entire region via Türkiye and beyond, he said.

As Poleo noted, the UK has been actively collaborating with countries across Central Asia to help boost their cleaner renewable energy capacity and work in this regard is gathering pace.

"A good example for this is the UK government has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on "Strategic Partnership on Low Carbon Hydrogen" with Kazakhstan, which will help share best practice on low carbon hydrogen technologies, as well as energy market transition," the official noted.

According to Poleo, the Global Methane Pledge launched in at COP26 in Glasgow has 150 participants agreeing to take voluntary action to global methane emissions by at least 30 percent, from 2020 levels, by 2030. As COP28 approaches, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan has a huge opportunity to cut methane emissions.

Additionally, the UK is taking clear and practical to help boost business connections in the green energy space, the official pointed out.

"This was demonstrated only recently, when my team in Kazakhstan led a senior delegation of Kazakh businesses to Aberdeen, one of the most impressive clean energy hubs in the UK. We see this as a brilliant opportunity for HMG and other partners to both facilitate investment in infrastructure, and support political agreement to create a predictable," he noted.