Deputy Prime Minister Sardor Umurzakov has held virtual talks with the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, EU Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis.

Virtual talks have been held between the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov and the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, EU Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis.

According to the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade, during the talks, the sides discussed current issues of bilateral partnership in trade, economic, financial, technical, cultural and humanitarian spheres, as well as the course of interaction within the framework of the agreed draft Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, accession of Uzbekistan to the WTO and to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP+).

The parties noted with satisfaction more than 50 percent growth in trade between Uzbekistan and the EU countries, achieved over the past 3 years, and voiced their readiness to jointly develop effective mechanisms and implement initiatives to increase the indicators of mutual trade, bringing its volume to $10 billion in the short term.

Valdis Dombrovskis also expressed the EU’s commitment to assisting Uzbekistan in obtaining the status of a beneficiary country “GSP+”, which will allow Uzbekistan manufacturers of more than 6 thousand types of goods to export their products duty-free to the markets of the EU countries.

In addition, an agreement was reached on enhancing cultural and humanitarian cooperation, in particular in education. Prospects for interaction within the framework of Erasmus and Horizon Europe programs were discussed.

UzA