Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Ambassador of Uzbekistan to the Benelux countries Dilyor Khakimov met with the EU Special Representative for Central Asia Teri Hakala, Dunyo news agency reported.

During the meeting, the parties noted that in recent years, relations between Uzbekistan and the EU have reached a qualitatively new level and acquired a comprehensive character.

The European partners highly appreciate and support the deep socio-economic reforms being carried out in Uzbekistan at the initiative of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, as well as the country’s new regional policy, which made it possible to quickly solve the most difficult tasks of sharing water resources, delimitation and demarcation of state borders, in general, change in the better side of the very political atmosphere towards building confidence and cooperation in Central Asia.

This was emphasized during recent visits and high-level meetings in Uzbekistan, in particular, the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell in the framework of the international conference “Interconnection of the European Union and Central Asia: a global gateway for sustainable development”.

As part of the events, the European side reaffirmed its firm support for the policy of reforms carried out within the framework of the New Uzbekistan Development Strategy.

The European Union is one of the important foreign policy and foreign economic partners of Uzbekistan. The parties interact within the framework of the EU Strategy for Central Asia, updated in 2019, which, in fact, has become a new "Roadmap" for deepening interregional cooperation in the medium term.

An important stage in economic cooperation between the parties was the granting to Uzbekistan on 10 April 2021 of the status of a beneficiary country of the general system of preferences "GSP+".

This year, negotiations on the draft Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA) between Uzbekistan and the EU were successfully completed, the initialing of which took place on 6 July in Brussels.

The EU supports Uzbekistan’s accession to the World Trade Organization. The progress of the implementation of the EU project "Supporting the process of accession of Uzbekistan to the WTO" with a budget of 5 million euros, which is being implemented by the International Trade Center in cooperation with the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan, is positively assessed.

In addition, in recent years, priority has been given to attracting direct investment, the latest technologies, best practices and high standards of EU companies to Uzbekistan.

The growing attention of the leadership of Uzbekistan to the issues of ensuring gender equality, supporting the rights and interests of women, youth and children was noted with satisfaction. The EU always emphasizes the importance of full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The parties also discussed plans for the future.