The International Institute for Central Asia (IICA) hosted an expert conference “Central Asia – the European Union: a new agenda for security cooperation”.
The event was co-organized by the IICA and the European Union (EU). More than 100 representatives of ministries and departments, diplomatic missions, and leading research organizations of Central Asian countries and the EU attended the forum.
The European side was represented by EU Special Representative for Central Asia Terhi Hakala, EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Bartjan Wegter, EU Ambassador to Uzbekistan Charlotte Adriaen, Ambassador Nicolas Nihon, Chairman of the EU Council Counter-Terrorism Working Group and Director of the Counter Terrorism Department of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as program coordinators and managers of EU funded projects and other experts from EU structures that work for EU – Central Asia relations.
Experts from research organizations and representatives of sectoral ministries and departments represented the Central Asian countries.
Opening the conference, the European Union Special Representative for Central Asia Terhi Hakala recalled, “I was present at the Leaders Meeting in Cholpon-Ata in 2023 when President of Uzbekistan H.E. Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed this conference. We have achieved a lot in our regional cooperation since then, and I am glad that with this conference, we will further deepen our security cooperation. I am convinced that the dialogue of today will help us to respond better to rapidly changing security challenges that both the EU and Central Asia face”.
