The Foreign Minister Sven Mikser from Estonia holding the  EU presidency for the second half of the year, will chair the EU-Uzbekistan meeting and is expected to discuss issues including the rule of law, and human rights in Central Asian country.

In a joint statement, the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia the International Partnership for Human Rights, and Amnesty International urged the EU “to emphasize the need for concrete changes in the human rights situation in Uzbekistan.”

According to the opinion of the international organisations the government must end the persecution of human rights defenders, journalists, and dissident voices while also ensuring that domestic and international media can operate freely and independently.

They also underlined that Tashkent must allow an independent international inquiry into events in the eastern city of Andijan in 2005, when Uzbek security forces opened fire on anti-government peaceful protesters, and allegedly buried hundreds of  victims in mass graves.