International Institute for Central Asia hosted a meeting with the European Union Special Representative for Central Asia, Terhi Hakala.

The Special Representative supported the statement of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the second meeting of the leaders of Central Asia and the EU (Cholpon-Ata, October 2023) that “the most important area of ​​interaction is strengthening cooperation in the fight against new challenges and security threats”.

According to her, the proposal to hold a special conference put forward by the President of Uzbekistan received broad support.

In the same month, in Luxembourg, the foreign ministers of the Central Asian countries and EU member states adopted a roadmap for deepening ties between the parties. Taking into account the timely initiative, the roadmap included strengthening expert dialogue and holding an expert conference on security issues.

Ms. Hakala also emphasized that this initiative will allow proposals to be formulated for inclusion in the agenda of the upcoming first official “Central Asia – EU” summit in Uzbekistan and will contribute to increasing the effectiveness of joint efforts to counter new threats and challenges.

G. Khonnazarov, UzA