Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 15 April 2021, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Furkat Sidikov took part in a meeting of deputy heads of foreign affairs agencies of the Visegrad Group and Central Asia in the format of a video conference. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan.

Deputy Foreign Ministers of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan discussed issues of reducing the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economies of the Visegrad Group and Central Asia, current aspects of the implementation of the European Union Strategy for Central Asia, prospects for building up trade and economic cooperation and other issues on the common agenda.

The Uzbek side presented detailed information on the main directions and achieved results of the new foreign policy of Uzbekistan, the main priority of which is Central Asia.

The need was noted for coordinating efforts to overcome the consequences of the spread of COVID-19, focusing on the recovery of industries affected by the pandemic, in particular, the tourism, trade, transport communications and services industries.

The parties spoke in favor of strengthening interregional cooperation, strengthening economic partnership and building up mutual trade. As emphasized, both regions have complementary economies, which is a good basis for bringing trade and investment ties to a qualitatively new level.

An interest was expressed in expanding cooperation in the fields of education, science and innovation.

During the event, an exchange of views on issues of interaction between the parties within the framework of international and regional structures, in particular the EU, took place.