Bishkek, Dec. 11, 2018. / Kabar /. The 16th meeting of the Cooperation Council of the Kyrgyz Republic-EU chaired by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Chingiz Aidarbekov, who led the delegation of Kyrgyzstan to the EU, was held in Brussels, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic reported.
During the meeting, the sides discussed key aspects of cooperation between the Kyrgyz Republic and the EU, in particular, negotiations on a draft new Agreement on expanded partnership and cooperation between the Kyrgyz Republic and the European Union, EU programmatic assistance provided to the Kyrgyz Republic in the areas of rule of law, education, rural development of the Kyrgyz Republic, project implementation to provide drinking water to rural regions of the Kyrgyz Republic (Taza Suu).
The European side highly appreciated the democratic changes in Kyrgyzstan, in particular, the development of parliamentary democracy in the country and expressed support for the ongoing reforms in the Kyrgyz Republic of the electoral and judicial systems, as well as law enforcement agencies. The EU representatives noted the importance of further development of cooperation in the field of ensuring human rights and the development of civil society in the Kyrgyz Republic.
At the talks, the European side reaffirmed the planned allocation of € 36 million to the education sector of Kyrgyzstan and announced a decision to allocate the second tranche of €5.75 million and the remainder of the first tranche of €750.0 thousand for the reform of the social security sector of Kyrgyzstan.
In addition, the parties discussed the results of the EU-Central Asia Foreign Ministers Meeting, which was held in Brussels on November 23, 2018.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic confirmed the support of the Kyrgyz side for the new Strategy for Central Asia developed by the EU, which is expected to be adopted in 2019.
Within the agenda of the meeting, the trade and economic cooperation between the Kyrgyz Republic - EU was also discussed, taking into account the status of the GSP +. In particular, the Kyrgyz side noted its readiness to export environmentally friendly products to European markets that meet quality and safety standards. The importance of attracting investments from the European Union countries to the economy of the Kyrgyz Republic was also noted. “Thanks to the GSP + status, the country's trade turnover with the EU has been tripled since 2016”.
During the meeting, the sides also exchanged views on issues of the international and regional agenda.
Following the talks, Aidarbekov and President of the Council of the European Union, the Federal Minister for European Affairs, Integration and Foreign Affairs of Austria, K. Kneisl, made a statement to the press.
Comments
Post Comment