{"id":7704,"date":"2025-12-01T11:43:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T09:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/?p=7704"},"modified":"2025-12-01T11:43:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T09:43:27","slug":"epca-new-agreement-between-uzbekistan-and-the-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/epca-new-agreement-between-uzbekistan-and-the-eu\/","title":{"rendered":"EPCA: New agreement between Uzbekistan and the EU"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On 24 October 2025, <strong>Uzbekistan<\/strong> and the European Union signed a new <strong>Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement<\/strong> (EPCA), which replaces the original Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) from 1996. This agreement marks a significant step in the further development of bilateral relations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key aspects of the new agreement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The EPCA comprises 9 sections, 356 articles and 14 annexes. It covers a wide range of areas that are central to future cooperation. In particular, the agreement will redefine the following priorities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Trade and investment<\/li>\n<li>Sustainable development<\/li>\n<li>Science and education<\/li>\n<li>Innovation and high technology<\/li>\n<li>Environment and climate change<\/li>\n<li>Rule of law, human rights and civil society<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Security and foreign policy: new priorities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Another key element of the agreement is the strengthening of cooperation in <strong>foreign and security policy<\/strong>. In particular, this involves:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Conflict prevention and crisis management<\/li>\n<li>Risk reduction<\/li>\n<li>Cyber security<\/li>\n<li>Promotion of regional stability<\/li>\n<li>Disarmament, arms control and export control<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>New opportunities through cooperation on critical raw materials<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The agreement also opens up new prospects in areas that are crucial for the <strong>green and digital transition<\/strong>, such as cooperation on <strong>critical raw materials<\/strong>. These resources are essential for the development of sustainable technologies and the transition to a low-carbon economy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Improving regional connectivity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Another important aspect of the EPCA is the promotion of regional connectivity, particularly through initiatives such as the <strong>Global Gateway Initiative<\/strong> and the <strong>Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor<\/strong>. These projects aim to improve infrastructure and optimise trade routes between Europe and Central Asia.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WTO accession and market access<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Negotiations on <strong>Uzbekistan&#8217;s accession to the WTO<\/strong> are to be pushed forward. The aim is to finalise accession at the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference in 2026.\u00a0 In this context, Uzbekistan would like to introduce <strong>maximum tariffs for the import and export of goods<\/strong>, among other things. This is particularly relevant for European companies, as WTO accession usually goes hand in hand with clearer rules on <strong>customs <\/strong><strong>procedures, market access, trade policy transparency and non-discrimination<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Uzbekistan has been an <strong>APS+ beneficiary <\/strong>under the EU&#8217;s Generalised System of Preferences since April 2021. This status continues to grant Uzbek exports <strong>unilateral, preferential access<\/strong> to the EU market. The trade and economic policy provisions of the EPCA support and extend these benefits by placing <strong>Uzbek market access and sustainability commitments<\/strong> on a more stable legal footing.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gtai.de\/de\/trade\/usbekistan\/zoll\/eu-usbekistan-abkommen-1942430\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GTAI<\/a> (in German), <a href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/ALL\/?uri=CELEX:32025D1296\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EUR-Lex<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 24 October 2025, Uzbekistan and the European Union signed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allgemein-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EPCA: New agreement between Uzbekistan and the EU - Nicola Bernard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/epca-new-agreement-between-uzbekistan-and-the-eu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EPCA: New agreement between Uzbekistan and the EU - Nicola Bernard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On 24 October 2025, Uzbekistan and the European Union signed [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/epca-new-agreement-between-uzbekistan-and-the-eu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nicola Bernard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-01T09:43:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Cover_fuer_Website-39-1024x576.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"nicola.bernard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"nicola.bernard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/epca-new-agreement-between-uzbekistan-and-the-eu\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/epca-new-agreement-between-uzbekistan-and-the-eu\/\",\"name\":\"EPCA: New agreement between Uzbekistan and the EU - Nicola Bernard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/epca-new-agreement-between-uzbekistan-and-the-eu\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/epca-new-agreement-between-uzbekistan-and-the-eu\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Cover_fuer_Website-39.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-01T09:43:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7a09693188c7e9880d798b5b412350a4\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/epca-new-agreement-between-uzbekistan-and-the-eu\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/epca-new-agreement-between-uzbekistan-and-the-eu\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Cover_fuer_Website-39.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Cover_fuer_Website-39.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nicola-bernard.de\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Nicola Bernard\",\"description\":\"Serviceb\u00fcro f. 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