DUSHANBE, September 17, Asia-Plus — Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi yesterday left for Paris to attend the first EU-Central Asia Forum on security issues that will be held on September 18.
Adopted at the European Council meeting of June 2007, upon the initiative of the German Presidency, the European Union Strategy for Central Asia has helped consolidate relations between the European Union and the five countries in the region, namely Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The aim of the Paris Forum is to reaffirm this commitment and establish lasting cooperation between these two regions on security issues.
Consultations between the EU and the five countries in the region have actually emphasized convergence on the importance of the region”s stability and the need to step up cooperation between all the parties to find common answers to the challenges facing all our countries.
The Forum will focus on three main issues: terrorist threat and non-proliferation related-aspects, the fight against human and drug trafficking, and energy and environmental security.
Bernard Kouchner, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, will bring together his ministerial counterparts from the Central Asian countries, the European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, Benita Ferrero Waldner, as well as the Council Secretary-General of the Council/High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana. The French Minister has collectively invited foreign ministers from EU member and candidate countries (Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia), as well as the international and regional organizations and the investment and development banks concerned. Afghanistan will attend as an observer country given its geographical proximity and the problems it shares with countries from the zone.
According to the MFA information head Davlat Nazriyev, Zarifi is also planned to hold a number of bilateral meetings with his ministerial counterparts from the EU countries.
Today, the Tajik minister is attending of an awarding ceremony for Tajik sculptor Amriddin Aminov, who now lives in Paris. The ceremony is being held at the UNESCO Headquarters.
