22
as a whole, making it now stronger to tackle
internal and external challenges. Here too, the
role of the civil society was key to accompany
the role of the state in the interest of all.
Coming back to Uzbekistan and the
region, the EU can help you in particular with
creating the right framework for a strong civil
society. We shall discuss these issues with
our
counterparts
during
the
EU-UZ
Subcommittee on JHA, Human Rights
and Related Issues Thursday and Friday.
We are ready to allocate more money
to Uzbekistan under our Instrument for
Democracy and Human Rights, now that
we have the justified hope that we can
actually efficiently use this money.
The EU institutions, the EU Member
States have a lot of expertise on regulatory
issues and finding solutions among diverging
interests, including work with civil society in
the legislative process, as checks & balances,
as sounding board and feedback mechanism
for new ideas etc. And of course at times civil
society pushes us into directions where we as
bureaucrats wouldn’t necessarily have gone.
You can call this lobbying, influencing or simply
the expression of people’s will.
Let me give to very concrete and relevant
examples where civil society is involved:
consultation of civil society is on-going when it
comes to the new EU Strategy for Central Asia,
to be issued next year. It will also be important
during the negotiations – to start soon – of a
new Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation
Agreement between the EU and Uzbekistan.
Finally, if Central Asia wants
to become a hub again, it will have
to
enhance
cooperation
within
the region and beyond. I am very
encouraged by the steps taken now and
we’ll try to support this process.
Connectivity is very popular at the
moment in Brussels. The EU intends to issue
soon a Strategy on Eurasian Connectivity.
Obviously, Central Asia is a key place for
any land corridors going from Asia to Europe.
Connectivity is not just about infrastructures
and investments, but also about people. Civil
society has a role to play here as well, in terms
of cross-border cooperation, joint initiatives,
exchange
programmes,
etc.
I
can
definitively contribute to the rapprochement
among countries.
In conclusion, the EU is ready to interact
with all actors to intensify our bilateral and
regional cooperation activities in the framework
of existing reform efforts. Civil society is an
important partner in these processes.
Thank you for your attention!