BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 13
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
The European Union has allocated two grants to finance the entry of Uzbekistan into the World Trade Organization and to implement projects in the Aral Sea region, Trend reports citing the press service of Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry .
"Uzbekistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulaziz Kamilov, who is visiting Brussels, and Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) Koen Doens signed agreements on financing technical assistance projects "Uzbekistan's accession to the World Trade Organization" and "EU Development Contribution to the Multi-Partnership Trust Fund for human security for the Aral Sea region", the Foreign Ministry press service reported.
The amount of grant funds allocated within the framework of the project on Uzbekistan’s accession to the WTO is 5 million euros.
The project provides assistance to Uzbekistan in the process of joining this organization as a whole, including the preparation of the necessary documents, increasing the knowledge of Uzbek specialists under WTO agreements and the international trading system.
Moreover, grant funds under the project of the Multi-Partner Trust Fund in the amount of 5.2 million euros will be allocated for the implementation of the fund's projects in the Aral Sea region.
Kamilov is in Brussels to attend a meeting of the EU-Uzbekistan Cooperation Council.
Furthermore, European Union and Uzbekistan plan to sign an agreement on enhanced partnership and cooperation in 2020, as was stated by Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov at a meeting of the Cooperation Council.
It is possible that the document will be signed during Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s possible visit to Brussels.
"We are working on the preparation of a new agreement on expanded partnership and cooperation, and we hope to be able to sign this agreement along with other important projects during the upcoming visit of our president, we hope next year in Brussels," Kamilov said.
For his part, the representative of the Finnish presidency of the EU Council, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said that negotiations on the new agreement "are going well, at a fast pace."
According to him, three rounds of consultations have already passed; the fourth will start in December.
"We hope to be able to complete negotiations in 2020, however some work still remains," he said.
Deputy chairman of Senate of Uzbekistan’s Parliament Sadyk Safayev spoke about the signing of a new agreement earlier.
The Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement will replace the current partnership and cooperation agreement, which has been in force since 1999.
The first round of negotiations on the new document took place in February 2019 in Tashkent, the second in June in Brussels, the third in September and again in Uzbekistan’s capital.
The new agreement provides for more advanced economic, political and cultural relations with the European Union.
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