On 15 April 2021, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Furkat Sidikov attended the Meeting of Deputy Foreign Ministers of Visegrad Group and Central Asia, via videoconference, Uzbekistan MFA reports.

Deputy Foreign Ministers of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan discussed issues of reducing the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economies of the Visegrad Group and Central Asia, current aspects of the implementation of the EU Strategy on Central Asia, prospects for increasing trade-economic cooperation and other issues on the common agenda.

The Uzbek side provided detailed information on the main directions and the achieved results of the new foreign policy of Uzbekistan, the main priority of which is Central Asia.

The need for coordinating efforts to overcome the consequences of the spread of COVID-19, focusing on the recovery of industries affected by the pandemic, in particular, tourism, trade, transport and services, was noted.

The parties called for strengthening interregional cooperation, strengthening economic partnership and increasing mutual trade. As it was emphasized, both regions have complementary economies, which is a good basis for bringing trade and investment relations to a qualitatively new level.

The parties expressed interest in enhancing cooperation in education, science and innovation.

Views were also exchanged on the issues of cooperation between the parties within the framework of international and regional structures, in particular the EU.

UzA