June marks the start of summer's harvest season in Uzbekistan and this is a time of year when the importance of food supply chains becomes most evident. "Agriculture is essential for everyone in Uzbekistan and this why the EU is committed to support the agricultural sector in Uzbekistan." Our Ambassador Charlotte Adriaen underlines this message in her new video interview highlighting key benefits from latest EU international partnership work with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

The Ambassador's interview explains different fields of this partnership work which features a large amount of dedicated EU expertise and training support for the Ministry of Agriculture, advisory, education and research institutions, farmers, agri-businesses and others through the EU funded ASK Facility. A steady supply of success stories continues to result from this EU cooperation at national, regional and district levels.

For example, useful advances are expected in June from a new strategic plan for developing Tashkent Region's agri-food sector, as well as ASK workshops modernising agricultural research and education priorities. Also new this month will be the launch of an inter-governmental working group on Food and Nutrition Security supported by the ASK Facility technical expertise and analysis. This relies on cross-cutting contributions from several Ministries who will cooperate together, exchange international experience and support the process of building new support structures and systems to ensure the regular supply of healthy, safe and affordable food for all Uzbek citizens.

A closing quote from the Ambassador's interview draws attention to the importance of securing nutrition quality in Uzbek food systems saying: "working on healthy food supply chains is really important for people and export. If we want to use better the potential of GSP+ then we need to make sure the food supply chains are healthy."