On the upper reaches of the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan, at a site where Soviet engineers broke ground in 1986, a new chapter is taking shape. Kambarata-1, the largest hydropower project in Central Asian planning, will generate 1,860 megawatts from a 256-metre dam holding 5.4 billion cubic meters of water. Annual output is estimated at 5.6 billion kilowatt-hours, equivalent to half of Kyrgyzstan's current supply. The project cost stands at $4.2 billion. Pledged financing has already reached $5.6 billion. In late March 2026, the first round of intergovernmental negotiations began in Bishkek, with deputy energy ministers from all three countries at the table alongside World Bank representatives.

 

What makes Kambarata-1 distinctive is its ownership structure. Kyrgyzstan holds 34 percent; Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan hold 33 percent each. Power is distributed proportionally to shareholding. The trilateral ministerial agreement, signed in June 2024, established the framework. A joint venture will manage implementation. The World Bank serves as lead arranger, coordinating support from the EBRD, the European Investment Bank, the AIIB, the ADB, the OPEC Fund and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti of Italy. At the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels in October 2025, the EU and EIB formalised €900 million in agreements with the three governments, while the EBRD signed memoranda for a potential €1.3 billion financing package.

 

Energy Minister Jorabek Mirzamahmudov observed that in the past such projects could not even be discussed. Today, ten major international financial institutions are competing to support delivery. Construction will adhere to international standards in environmental protection and safety alongside financial transparency, with the design accounting for the national interests of all three countries. The project is expected to create up to 7,000 jobs during construction and operation.

The minister's philosophy frames Uzbekistan's approach to regional energy cooperation: successful neighbors make a successful country. Tashkent's strategy is built on the conviction that the energy security and prosperity of the entire region directly strengthens Uzbekistan's own economic position. This principle runs through every cross-border initiative the Ministry of Energy pursues, from joint hydropower to electricity exports, from shared grid infrastructure to coordinated water management. It explains why Uzbekistan supplies winter electricity to Kyrgyzstan, finances a dam on Kyrgyz territory and builds transmission lines into Afghanistan.

 

In November 2025, the energy and water ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan signed a trilateral protocol in Almaty covering both the winter heating period and the 2026 agricultural season. Under the agreement, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan supply electricity to Kyrgyzstan during winter months, allowing Bishkek to conserve water in the Toktogul Reservoir. That water is then released downstream during the growing season to irrigate farmland in southern Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The arrangement converts a seasonal tension into a cooperative mechanism, linking energy supply to agricultural productivity across three economies.

 

The Green Energy Corridor represents the most ambitious expression of this regional approach. In April 2025, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a transmission route linking Central Asian renewables to European markets. High-voltage direct current lines totalling 2,500 kilometers will run under the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan and Georgia, then under the Black Sea to Romania. Uzbekistan's target is 10 to 15 billion kilowatt-hours of annual electricity exports by 2030. Minister Mirzamahmudov has described the corridor as a project that can transform Uzbekistan and Central Asia as a whole into an important energy hub of Eurasia.

Afghanistan represents a different dimension of the same principle. In August 2025, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan signed contracts for four major energy projects worth $243 million: the 500 kV Surkhan to Dasht-e-Alwan transmission line with 1,000-megawatt capacity, the Argandi substation expansion at 800 MVA, the 220 kV Kabul to Sheik Mesri line at 800 megawatts and the Sheik Mesri substation in Nangarhar at 126 MVA. In November, the Ministry of Energy confirmed that electricity exports to Afghanistan will continue through 2026 under a bilateral memorandum of understanding. The export capacity of 800 to 1,000 megawatts positions Uzbekistan as a stabilising force in a market where millions of people still lack reliable access to power.

 

The convergence of these initiatives is deliberate. Kambarata-1 addresses the region's winter energy deficit while improving summer water flows for agriculture. The Green Energy Corridor creates export revenue from renewable generation that exceeds domestic demand. The Afghanistan corridor extends Uzbekistan's grid into a neighboring economy of 40 million people. The trilateral water-energy protocol in Almaty converts a resource that once divided the region into one that connects it. 

 

The region's population exceeds 80 million and is expected to reach 100 million by 2050. Energy demand across Central Asia is projected to at least double in the same period. Each project reinforces the others. Collectively, they position Uzbekistan at the center of a regional energy architecture where cooperation produces returns that no single country could achieve alone.