Topical issues of interaction between Uzbekistan and the EU discussed

In Brussels, a meeting was held between the Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov and the Chief Adviser on Foreign Policy of the President of the European Council Simon Mordu.

The agenda of the meeting included the current state and prospects for deepening the multifaceted partnership between Uzbekistan and the EU. Positive dynamics in the development of interaction in all priority areas, as well as the regular nature of bilateral contacts at various levels, were noted.

The results of the 18th meeting of the Uzbekistan-EU Cooperation Committee, held earlier on the same day in Brussels, were assessed in a positive way, during which the parties identified further joint steps to expand mutually beneficial partnership in promising areas, with particular emphasis on deepening investment and trade and economic cooperation.

In this context, there was a significant increase in mutual trade indicators: in the first five months of this year, trade between Uzbekistan and EU countries increased by 22 percent, while exports from Uzbekistan to the EU increased by 86 percent. Among the categories of goods that showed the greatest growth are chemical industry products (growth by 6 times), textiles (growth by 90 percent) and food products (growth by 65 percent). This was largely achieved due to the acquisition by Uzbekistan in 2021 of the status of a beneficiary of the EU’s Generalized System of Preferences “GSP +”. Taking the opportunity, the parties discussed the results of the visit of the EU monitoring mission to Uzbekistan within the framework of the GSP + system and outlined further steps to ensure compliance with the requirements of all 27 international conventions ratified by the country in the status of a beneficiary of this system, and further interaction on the effective use of its advantages in practice.

The parties welcomed the completion of negotiations on the draft Agreement on Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the EU (EPCA) and its initialing, which took place shortly before the meeting. It was emphasized that the signing of the Agreement will create fundamentally new, broader opportunities for deepening bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas, including foreign policy, security, sectoral interaction, investment and trade.

Touching upon the topic of accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Uzbek side expressed gratitude for the support of the EU in organizing and holding the 5th meeting of the Working Group on Uzbekistan’s accession to the WTO. Further steps were outlined for cooperation in this direction.

During the dialogue, issues of organizing and holding a number of joint events during 2022, including the EU-Central Asia Summit, the Ministerial Conference on Connectivity and the joint Tourism Forum, were also considered.

As a result of the meeting, an agreement was reached on intensifying interaction to promote common issues in the context of the considered areas of cooperation.