Uzbekistan strengthens economic cooperation with EU

On July 7, the European Union and Uzbekistan officially initialed an agreement on an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), Gremi Personal Analytical Center reported. The contract will be signed during President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's upcoming visit to Brussels later this year. The new agreement creates a full-fledged mechanism for comprehensive cooperation between Uzbekistan and the EU.

Since the beginning of the year, trade turnover between Uzbekistan and EU countries has increased by 22 percent. At the same time, Uzbekistan's exports to the EU increased by 86 percent. The highest growth was shown by chemical industry products (6-fold increase), textiles (90 percent increase), and food products (65 percent increase), according to the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Uzbeks are also attractive workers for Polish employers, who find it difficult to find replacements for Ukrainians who have returned to the front lines beyond their homeland. Their normal country of labor emigration so far has been Russia, now closed due to sanctions.

“This could open up new avenues for economic and trade partnerships, especially in the sphere of employment, which is what the Polish economy needs most at the moment,” Anna Dzobohlda, director of the recruitment department of international employment agency Gremi Personal, said.

(WBJ)