On July 17, 2017, the delegation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulaziz Kamilov, took part in the 13th meeting of the Cooperation Council “Uzbekistan-European Union” in Brussels.

Before the meeting, a short ceremony of signing the Protocol to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement establishing a partnership between the Republic of Uzbekistan, of the one part, and, the European Communities and their Member States of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union took place.

On behalf of Uzbekistan, the document was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulaziz Kamilov, on behalf of the European Union – Sven Mikser, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, which is the EU Chairman currently, and the head of the European Commission’s Directorate General for External Trade Petros Surmelis.

During the meeting, the issues of the bilateral agenda, the implementation of previously reached agreements were discussed in details.

The parties reaffirmed their readiness to develop a long-term and mutually beneficial partnership on a wide range of issues, both in bilateral format and at the interregional level.

As noted, Uzbekistan and the European Union are interested in consolidating efforts in the fight against terrorism, religious extremism, the spread of drugs and other types of organized crime.

At the talks the prospects of cultural and humanitarian cooperation were also discussed.

At the end of the meeting, Abdulaziz Kamilov and Sven Mikser held a joint press conference.