Saida Mirziyoyeva, head of the administration of the President of Uzbekistan, paid a visit to France where she held meetings with President Emmanuel Macron, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot, and UNESCO Director-General Khalid al-Anani.
On June 29, during a meeting with Minister Barrot, Mirziyoyeva described France as one of Uzbekistan's key strategic partners in Europe. “Our mutual relations cover areas such as energy, transport, infrastructure, education and healthcare. While maintaining our position as a reliable and stable partner in Central Asia, we intend to consistently strengthen partnership with France and Europe as a whole,” she wrote on Telegram.
According to the French Foreign Ministry, the sides discussed key bilateral issues, cultural cooperation, the Uzbekistan-France University project, as well as projects by French companies in energy, transport and healthcare, and the activities of the French Development Agency (AFD) in Uzbekistan.
On June 30, Saida Mirziyoyeva met with French President Emmanuel Macron. She noted that Uzbekistan and France are bound by long-term partnership relations in the most important strategic areas. “I am confident that we will implement many more initiatives and joint projects beneficial for both countries in the future,” she said.
The same day, she met with UNESCO Director-General Khalid al-Anani to discuss the implementation of agreements reached at the 43rd session of the General Conference in Samarkand. Special attention was paid to developing human capital, artificial intelligence, creative industries, supporting women's leadership, and cultural preservation.
Khalid al-Anani wrote on social media platform X that Uzbekistan and UNESCO are linked by a “strong partnership” in education, culture and science, which also covers AI ethics, climate resilience and gender priorities. He stressed that UNESCO plans to continue cooperation with Uzbekistan in these common areas.
France remains one of Uzbekistan's largest trading partners. By the end of 2025, it ranked as the 8th largest partner: bilateral trade reached $1.38 billion, up 20.8% from 2024. In January-May of this year, France rose to 6th place with a trade turnover of $771.9 million, 35.2% higher than in the same period last year.
Source: www.gazeta.uz