BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
Uzbekistan and the European Union (EU) are preparing a new partnership agreement, Trend reports citing the press service of Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry.
The delegation of Uzbekistan, headed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dilshod Akhatov, and consisting of representatives of various ministries and departments of the country arrived in Brussels.
The purpose of the visit is to conduct 4th round of negotiations on the draft Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Uzbekistan and the European Union, which will be held on December 11-13.
In Brussels, during the next three days of negotiations, the parties plan to discuss the pre-final aspects of the new agreement, which will replace the partnership and cooperation agreement between the parties.
The Uzbek-European working groups on political, sectorial and trade issues held a series of consultations, including through video conferencing, following which they reached mutual understanding on various aspects of the draft of this agreement.
As stated earlier by Uzbekistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulaziz Kamilov, the parties expect to sign a new agreement in 2020.
It is possible that the signing will take place during a possible visit of Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Brussels.
The new 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 the capital of Uzbekistan.
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