Representatives from Uzbekistan and the European Union will hold the fifth round of negotiations to reach a new comprehensive bilateral deal in Tashkent in March, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday, after leading figures from both parties met on Tuesday
TASHKENT (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2020) Representatives from Uzbekistan and the European Union will hold the fifth round of negotiations to reach a new comprehensive bilateral deal in Tashkent in March, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday, after leading figures from both parties met on Tuesday.
Negotiations between Tashkent and Brussels to conclude an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement have been ongoing since February 2019, and the fourth round of talks were held between the head of the Uzbek mission to the EU Dilyor Khakimov and the European External Action Service's director for Russia and Central Asia Luc Devigne on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry stated.
"The parties exchanged views on the negotiation process on Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and practical issues of holding the next round of negotiations in March 2020 in Tashkent," the ministry's statement read.
The new deal will replace an existing agreement that has been in force for two decades. A similar agreement was signed between the EU and Kazakhstan in 2015.
Additionally, Khakimov and Devigne discussed the potential participation of leading EU representatives at the first Tashkent International Investment Forum, scheduled to take place in the first week of March.
In late January, Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell held bilateral talks in the German capital of Berlin. The two parties discussed regional cooperation and collaborative solutions to meet the challenges presented by climate change.
