On March 5, the Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov hosted the newly appointed head of the European Union Delegation, Ambassador Charlotte Adrian, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Ambassador presented to the Minister with a copy of her credentials. The Minister congratulated the head of the EU Delegation on the posting, wished her success in developing and enhancing friendly relations between Uzbekistan and the European Union.

The parties discussed the state and prospects of cooperation between Uzbekistan and the EU in the political, trade and economic, financial and technical, cultural, humanitarian and other areas and commended the progress of the negotiation process on the draft Expanded Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Uzbekistan and the EU. It should be noted that to date, 7 rounds of negotiations have already been held on this issue.

The schedule, agenda and organizational issues of upcoming joint events, including the next meeting of the Uzbekistan-EU Cooperation Council, the upcoming round of high-level dialogue “EU-Central Asia” on politics and security, were considered.

The sides expressed hope for the granting of the GSP + status to Uzbekistan by the end of March 2021. Let us remind you that in December the European Commission made an early decision to grant Uzbekistan the status of a beneficiary of the Generalized System of Preferences plus “GSP +”. This will allow the country to double the number of duty-free goods supplied to the EU.

At the meeting, the Foreign Minister voiced Uzbekistan’s interest in enhancing close cooperation with the European Union in the field of education, in particular through the new Erasmus program.

Previously, Charlotte Adrian headed the Financial and Technical Cooperation Department of the Delegation of the European Union to Kyrgyzstan.

The previous head of the EU Delegation to Uzbekistan, Eduards Stiprais, completed his four-year mission in July last year.