The President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will visit Belgium in 2022, where the expanded partnership and cooperation agreement is scheduled to be signed between Uzbekistan and the European Union.
This was announced by Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov at the press conference following a meeting of the Uzbekistan-EU Cooperation Council.
“I can say that we have made very serious progress in preparing the expanded partnership and cooperation agreement. We are going to complete the draft agreement and finalize it in the near future, planning to sign the document during the upcoming visit of our President to Brussels next year. The sides will focus on cooperation on the human dimension, democratic reforms, human rights, religious freedoms, child and forced labor,” he said.
The Foreign Minister said that over the past few years, the parties have been able to remove from the bilateral agenda some problematic issues related to the human dimension.
“We understand that there is still a lot to be done in the future. In this context, we are ready to work with our EU colleagues to make new progress. Today the international community pays very serious attention to the situation in Central Asia and around our region, especially Afghanistan. This is our common problem. We have similar views. In addition, we face the same challenges. Based on the shared interests, we will continue cooperation on regional issues, ”Kamilov said.
He stressed that "there are many more issues on our political agenda that need to be discussed in the future to continue our cooperation."
“But, at the same time, I can say that good mutual understanding has been achieved in the political field. We know what has been done and what is to be done in the future, ”the minister concluded.
