Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Strategy for the Development of New Uzbekistan, approved in 2022, among the priority goals of building a humane state, ensuring the rule of law, and accelerating the development of the national economy, also outlined the main directions of the foreign policy vector of our state.

One of the most important tasks of foreign policy is the implementation of an open and constructive policy towards the nearest neighbors, the solution of regional issues and problems on the basis of equality, mutual consideration of interests and the search for reasonable compromises, as well as the formation around Uzbekistan as a country located in the heart of the region, a belt of friendship and prosperity, security and stability.

Thanks to the consistent implementation of this course, over the past five years it has been possible to radically change the political climate in the region, to achieve progress on many problematic issues that have hampered the development of the region for many years.

The ongoing large-scale reforms have formed the main priorities of foreign policy activities aimed at deepening existing ties with almost all countries of the world, increasing trade relations and investment volumes, improving transport and logistics routes, as well as cooperation in the fuel and energy sector. As part of this approach, the European Union also acts as one of the key international economic partners, in addition to Russia, the United States, China, and Turkey.

Relations with the European Union began in 1992 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Uzbekistan and the European Commission. To date, the legal framework for cooperation consists of 15 documents and 6 joint bodies are successfully functioning through the "Uzbekistan-EU" line.

At the present stage, the European Union supports the reform program of Uzbekistan through technical and financial assistance and regularly interacts on issues of mutually beneficial cooperation in trade, economic, investment, financial and technical fields, as well as in the field of ecology, climate, education and tourism, human rights and freedoms.

It should be noted that an active dialogue between Uzbekistan and the European Union is also carried out in the format of interregional cooperation "Central Asia - European Union", during which negotiations are underway on issues of stable and sustainable development.

Thanks to the initiatives of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the implementation under his leadership of large-scale changes in our society and in dialogue with external partners, the current interaction with Brussels and the EU countries has reached a completely new level.

Thus, within the framework of bilateral cooperation, fruitful official visits of the Head of Uzbekistan to France in 2018 and to Germany in 2019 took place. As a result of these visits, breakthrough agreements were reached in the political, trade, economic, investment, cultural, humanitarian and other spheres.

The President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2019), the President of the European Council Donald Tusk (2019), the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell (2021) have successfully completed their visits to Uzbekistan.

During a meeting with the Leader of our state on 19 October 2022, EU Special Representative Teri Hakala stressed that "The European Union highly appreciates and consistently supports the continuation of the program of irreversible reforms in New Uzbekistan, aimed at further deepening democratic and socio-economic transformations in the country."

The central place in relations between Uzbekistan and the European Union is given to trade, economic and investment interaction. Since the first years of independence, relations in the economic sphere have been consistently gaining momentum and are mutually beneficial.

In recent years, Uzbekistan has established a most favored nation trade regime with 27 EU countries. The main trading partners are Germany, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Poland.

Thanks to the pragmatic policy of Uzbekistan, for 9 months of 2022, the volume of mutual trade between Uzbekistan and the EU countries exceeded US$3 billion, which is almost 15 percent more compared to the same period last year. At the same time, there is a significant increase in exports of Uzbek products to the EU countries, which increased by 70 percent. The number of joint ventures in Uzbekistan has exceeded one thousand.

The positive dynamics of trade turnover was facilitated by obtaining the status of a beneficiary of the EU Generalized System of Preferences "GSP +" in 2021.

The decision of the European Union to grant this status to Uzbekistan was made taking into account the tangible results of large-scale transformations carried out at the initiative and under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

In addition, the Enhanced Partnership Agreement is a priority in relations with the EU and Cooperation (EPC) between Uzbekistan and the European Union, which will replace the current Agreement of 1996.

At present, the document has been initialed and the procedures for preparing it for signing are being completed.

This document will further deepen cooperation between Uzbekistan and the EU countries as it covers a wider range of issues regarding foreign policy, trade and investment, security, conflict prevention, combating illegal migration, organized crime and corruption, countering terrorism and others.

Uzbekistan and the European Union are actively cooperating in areas related to institutional reforms and sustainable development issues.

In March 2022, a conference was held to launch a new Multi-Year Indicative Program for 2021-2027 with the participation of representatives of ministries and departments of Uzbekistan and diplomatic missions of the EU countries.

During the conference, issues of implementing projects in the areas of supporting agriculture and "green growth", improving the investment climate, as well as the socio-economic development of the Aral Sea region were discussed.

Within the framework of this program, at the initial stage, it is planned to allocate 83 million euros until 2024, including 76 million for jointly developed projects and programs and 7 million for supporting activities for the development of civil society and human rights.

One of the important areas of cooperation between the EU and Uzbekistan today is the cultural and humanitarian direction. It should be noted that in order to carefully preserve and develop culture and traditions, cultural and educational events are held between the parties and various projects are being implemented.

In particular, since 2013, the Delegation of the European Union in Uzbekistan, together with the National Agency "Uzbekkino", annually organizes the European Film Festival in Tashkent.

In addition, the EU Delegation to Uzbekistan coordinates the work of the EUNIC network of national cultural institutions and supports innovative solutions in this area.

The Erasmus+ Program is also actively active, within the framework of which 43 projects are being implemented with a budget of more than 36.6 million euros to increase the potential of higher education, in which 65 universities and more than 20 sectoral departments of our republic are involved.

At the same time, cooperation is carried out within the framework of the Horizon Europe Program. This program is the largest research and development funding initiative. The program provides for fundamental scientific research and support for innovative technologies of the future.

Today, the world is facing the severe consequences of climate change. This is becoming an increasingly significant factor influencing the politics and economy of both individual countries and integration associations.

Climate change has a transboundary character, which has a negative impact on the development of countries, which, in turn, requires a joint search for effective measures.

In this regard, the issues of ecology and environmental protection is one of the priority areas of partnership with the EU.

In this context, such programs as WECOOP (Dialogue on Environmental Protection and Climate Change) and CAWEP (Central Asian Water and Energy Program) have become an important mechanism for interaction in the environmental sphere between Uzbekistan and the European Union.

Specific targets to improve environmental, climate and water resilience are included under the Partnership for Resilience priority.

No less important is the project "My Garden in the Aral Sea" to plant landscaping of the Aralkum desert and nearby settlements of Karakalpakstan by planting 27,000 tree seedlings on the bottom of the dried-up Aral Sea by the end of this year.

It should be noted that the European Union contributes to the solution of issues of socio-economic development of the Aral Sea region. In this regard, it is important to mention the project “EU Contribution to the Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Human Security for the Aral Sea Region”, within the framework of which funds were allocated in the amount of 5.2 million euros.

In general, the intensification of relations between Uzbekistan both with the European Union and with its member countries demonstrates a special mutual interest in close contact.

There is a huge potential in the areas of trade, economic, investment, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, which is demonstrated by the increased indicators of trade turnover, the holding of fruitful meetings, consultations, summits and conferences.

In this context, strengthening fruitful cooperation and deepening the interaction of Uzbekistan with the EU will be the signing of an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.

It is noteworthy that on 17-18 November, Samarkand will host a conference in the format "European Union - Central Asia" on sustainable interconnectedness.

This forum will focus on important issues in the field of improving digital communications, developing the transport network, agriculture and energy.

Mutual support and close coordination in the joint implementation of initiatives, as well as the desire of Uzbekistan and the EU to strengthen practical mutually beneficial cooperation at the bilateral and regional levels, will certainly serve to maintain peace and stability, ensure security and sustainable development of our entire Central Asian region.