BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 14
By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend:
The European Commission will assist Uzbekistan in obtaining the status of a beneficiary country "GSP +", which will allow Uzbek manufacturers of more than 6,000 types of goods to export their products duty-free to the markets of the EU countries, Trend reports citing the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan.
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov and Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis discussed the course of interaction in within the agreed draft Agreement on Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation (EPC), Uzbekistan's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and accession to the General System of Preferences of the European Union "GSP +".
The parties noted the more than 50 percent increase in trade between Uzbekistan and the countries of the European Union, achieved over the past three years, and voiced their readiness to jointly develop effective mechanisms and implement initiatives to increase the indicators of mutual trade, bringing its volume to $10 billion in the short term.
The Uzbek side expressed gratitude to the EU for supporting the efforts undertaken by Uzbekistan to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), in particular for financing and implementing the technical assistance project. The European side, in turn, expressed its readiness to continue providing practical support in multilateral and bilateral negotiations on Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO.
Significant progress was also noted in the negotiation process of the draft EAP. As of the current moment, 18 rounds of negotiations have been held, a number of chapters and sections of the document have been agreed upon, active work is underway to discuss and resolve existing issues. Further steps were outlined to speed up the negotiation process and measures to intensify bilateral cooperation in this area.
In addition, an agreement was reached on expanding cultural and humanitarian cooperation, in particular in the field of education. The prospects for interaction within the framework of Erasmus and Horizon Europe European educational programs were discussed.
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