The Central Asia Delegation of the European Parliament has arrived in Dushanbe for the 6th meeting of the EU–Tajikistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.
According to the European Delegation to Tajikistan, the delegation includes 7 members of the European Parliament, representing all major political groups in the European Parliament.
Within the frameworks of the visit (November 2-4), the EP delegation is to hold a number of meetings with high-level Tajik officials. The planned agenda reportedly includes meetings with
Emomali Rahmon, President of Tajikistan, Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev, Chairman of Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper house of parliament) and Shukurjon Zuhurov, Chairman of Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament).
The EP delegation is also expected to meet with the International community present in the country, and representatives of local civil society.
The members of the European Parliament reportedly discussed a number of critical issues for the EU-Tajikistan relations, such as security and common fight against terrorism and radicalism, promotion of human rights and democratic governance, support to Tajik economic reforms to mitigate dependency from external factors, and the very needed regional cooperation in Central Asia.
The European Union, composed of 28 Member States, is the world’s biggest aid donor. Tajikistan is getting the main share of EU's bilateral assistance to Central Asia: €251 million for 2014-2020. During this period the EU will focus its development cooperation with Tajikistan on the sectors of education, health and rural development. Tajikistan also receives regional and thematic assistance in areas like border management and drug control (BOMCA/CADAP), education (CAREN & Erasmus+), democracy and human rights (EIDHR), non-State actors (NSA), energy (IFCA & INOGATE), transport (TRACECA), SME development (IFCA & CA-Invest), peace and stability (IcSP) and water/environment and nuclear safety (IFCA, EURECA & INSC). The EU has been active in Tajikistan since 1992 and provides approximately EUR 35 million annually in development assistance.
