Central Asia-EU 17th ministerial meeting held in Dushanbe

DUSHANBE. KAZINFORM – Deputy Prime-Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tileuberdi attended the 17th Central Asia – European Union Foreign Affairs Ministerial meeting, Kazinform has learnt from the press service of the Kazakh MFA.

The EU delegation was led by the Vice-President of the European Commission and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and the European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen.
During the meeting, the parties discussed topical issues of interregional and global cooperation, including post-pandemic recovery, restoring the pre-crisis indicators of mutual trade and investment flows, the EU's programming activity priorities in the region, including launching new regional programs, as well as situation in Afghanistan.

The head of Kazakhstan delegation addressed the EU party with a proposal to launch a new regional program on cooperation in science, technology and innovation, underlining the utmost importance of the mentioned areas. The initiative of Kazakhstan was fully supported by the representatives of all countries of Central Asia.
The participants reaffirmed their mutual interest in building up cooperation in healthcare, economic, human rights and rule of law, addressing regional challenges and threats related to terrorism and extremism, illicit drug smuggling, trafficking in human beings, border management and expanding cooperation between law enforcement agencies, as well as elaborating joint approaches to solving the Afghan problem.
Regional sustainable development challenges, including cooperation for rational transboundary water resources management, addressing environmental issues and climate change, were widely deliberated and discussed. Following the meeting, a Joint Communiqué was adopted.
Minister Tileuberdi held separate negotiations with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrell. The sides discussed in detail further development of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the European Union, as well as the preparation for the upcoming official visit of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Brussels.