President Mirziyoyev backs closer scientific, economic, and political cooperation with EU

The president began by emphasizing the importance of reinforcing political dialogue and establishing solid legal and institutional foundations for multilateral cooperation. He highlighted the need to jointly develop and adopt a comprehensive action plan to implement the provisions of the document being adopted on establishing a strategic partnership between Central Asia and the European Union.

To ensure coordinated positions on key issues on the international and regional agenda, the President of Uzbekistan proposed the following:

• Regular meetings of foreign affairs ministers;
• Strengthening inter-parliamentary relations by launching a “Central Asia–European Union” inter-parliamentary cooperation forum, with the inaugural event to be held in Uzbekistan this autumn;
• Expanding collaboration among leading think tanks.

The head of state also put forward the initiative to launch an investment platform to support large regional projects in “green” energy, innovation, transport, infrastructure, and agriculture.

In addition, President Mirziyoyev presented several other proposals, including:

• Signing a multilateral agreement on the protection and promotion of investments;
• Establishing a joint “Central Asia–European Union” Chamber of Commerce;
• Adopting a joint regional program to support small and medium-sized enterprises and women’s entrepreneurship projects.

To enhance scientific and educational cooperation with Central Asian countries, President Mirziyoyev expressed Uzbekistan’s readiness to open a representative office of the “Horizon Europe” program. He also proposed introducing special quotas under the “Erasmus+” program for training highly qualified specialists from the region.

Furthermore, the president suggested developing a joint program for scientific and technological exchange in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data, digitalization, and space research.