Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 24 May, the International Institute of Central Asia (MICA) hosted a meeting with the EU Special Representative for Central Asia Terhi Hakala.

The meeting was held within the expert conference on the topic “Central Asia - European Union: a new agenda for security cooperation”.

The European 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 our interaction is strengthening cooperation in the fight against new challenges and security threats.”

According to her, the proposal to hold this conference, put forward by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at a meeting of leaders of the countries of the region and the European Union in Kyrgyzstan, received wide support.

In October 2023 in Luxembourg, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Central Asian countries and EU Member States adopted a Roadmap for deepening ties between the EU and Central Asia, which, taking into account this timely initiative, included points on strengthening expert dialogue and holding an expert conference on security issues.

Terhi Hakala also emphasized that special attention in Brussels to the conference was also evident in the fact that more than 20 EU representatives and experts arrived in Tashkent for this forum.

The EU Special Representative concluded that this conference will make it possible to formulate proposals for inclusion on the agenda of the upcoming first official “Central Asia – EU” summit in Uzbekistan, and will also contribute to increasing the effectiveness of JOINT efforts to counter new threats and security challenges.