DUSHANBE, March 27, Asia-Plus — Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zaripov today left for Kazakhstan to attend a meeting in the ‘EU Troika-Central Asia’ format.
The European Union attaches great significance to expanding economic and political ties with Central Asia and this trend will again be on display when the European Union’s Troika will confer with Central Asian foreign ministers in the Kazakh capital city of Astana.
According to the Tajik MFA, a meeting in the ‘EU Troika-Central Asia’ format that will be held in Astana on March 28 will fill focus on developing EU strategy toward Central Asia for 2007-2013.
The meeting co-chaired by Kazakhstan and Germany, current EU president, will discuss a strategy that which never existed in the past between Central Asia and the European Union as between two geographical and economic regions. The meeting is aiming to approve concepts of several dimensions of cooperation between EU and Central Asia.
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will also be represented by their foreign ministers at the meeting, while Turkmenistan will be represented by it s deputy foreign minister Vepa Khajiyev.
The word ‘troika’ (triumvirate) is used in the European Union
when referring to a group composed of the Foreign Affairs Minister of the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council of Ministers
, the Secretary General/High Representative for the common foreign and security policy, the European Commissioner in charge of external relations and European neighborhood policy. The “Tro?ka” represents the European Union in external relations that fall within the scope of the common foreign and security policy (CFSP).
The troika attending the Astana meeting includes: Javier Solana, EU”s High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Commission”s Commissioner for External Relations, and the presiding Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany.
