A Tajik delegation, led by acting Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi, participated in the European Union -- Central Asia Ministerial meeting that took place in Brussels on November 20.

According to press release issued by the European Commission, it was the tenth ministerial since the Central Asia Strategy was adopted by the European Council in 2007.  All Central Asian countries have hosted this ministerial at least once.

On behalf of High Representative/Vice President (HR/VP) Catherine Ashton, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius, with Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, hosted this year’s meeting.

The ministerial was attended by the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan as well as senior officials of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

During the plenary session, key initiatives and future perspectives of EU-Central Asia cooperation were discussed as well security issues and regional cooperation.

The Tajik MFA information department says the meeting participants discussed a broad range of issues related to cooperation between the European Union (EU) and Central Asia in sectors like education, environmental protection, trade, investment, and rule of law.  

On the issue of trade and investment cooperation, Zarifi reportedly offered to work out a plan of actions on development of trade and investment between the European Union and Tajikistan.  

Meanwhile Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reports that speaking to reporters after the meeting, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said "for a number of reasons this meeting comes in an important moment of EU-Central Asia relations," pointing out the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan in 2014, and the UN Central Asia high level security talks held last summer.

"So today we took stock of our cooperation in counter-terrorism, against drugs, other trafficking, border management and we also talked about opportunities that transition in Afghanistan can bring to Central-Asia," he said.

For his part, EU Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs told journalists, "I believe trade and investment has a lot of potential in our relationship with Central Asia."  "I announce that for the next seven years we are ready to support measures in fighting poverty increasing security also strengthening the democracy and the rule of law. This amount is up to 1 billion euro," he noted.