Topical issues of cooperation between Uzbekistan and the EU were discussed

Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov met with Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of the European Council Simon Mordue in Brussels.

The current state and prospects for deepening the multifaceted partnership between Uzbekistan and the EU were on the agenda of the meeting. The positive dynamics of the development of cooperation in all priority areas was noted, as well as the regular nature of bilateral contacts at the level of Heads of State, Governments and key ministries and departments.

The results of the 18th meeting of the Uzbekistan-EU Cooperation Committee held earlier on the day in Brussels were positively assessed, during which the parties identified further joint steps to expand mutually beneficial partnership in promising areas, with a special emphasis on deepening investment, trade and economic cooperation.

In this context, a significant increase in mutual trade indicators was noted: in the first five months of this year, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and the EU countries increased by 22 percent, while exports from Uzbekistan to the EU increased by 86 percent. Among the categories of goods that showed the greatest growth were chemical industry products (a sixfold increase), textiles (a 90% increase) and food products (65% increase).

This was largely achieved thanks to the EU's benficiary status of the Generalized System of Preferences Plus "GSP+", which Uzbekistan received in 2021. The parties discussed the results of the visit of the EU monitoring mission to Uzbekistan within the framework of the GSP+ system and outlined further steps to ensure compliance with the requirements of all 27 international conventions ratified by the country as a beneficiary of this system and further cooperation on the effective use of its advantages in practice.