A high-level delegation of Tajikistan, composed of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sirojiddin Aslov, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade Nematullo Hikmatullozoda, the First Deputy Head of the President’s Executive Office Muzaffar Ashuriyon and other officials, presented the National Development Strategy of Tajikistan for the Period to 2030 in the framework of the EU Conference “The European Union: To reach the SDG” that took place in Brussels on May 18, according to the Tajik MFA information department.

Leaders and high-level representatives of the EU member states, the Council of Europe, officials of the European Commission, the European External Action Service, the European Parliament, various development agencies of the European Union, research institutes, international, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and mass media participated at the Conference. An extensive process of reviewing of key priorities for development in Tajikistan, the main directions of its implementation within the capacity of the country and with the assistance of the international community took place.

The representative of the Slovak Republic to the European Union, Ambassador Peter Jaworczyk has opened the conference, and later the Slovak State Secretary for Development, Lukas Parizek took the floor. It should be noted that the practical process of submitting of the National Development Strategy began during the EU presidency of the Slovak Republic.

Later, the representative of Malta, who currently has it presidency at the European Council, the Director-General for Global Issues, International Development and Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malta, Neville Akulin has noted in his speech that the topic of the conference — the implementation of the National Development Strategy of Tajikistan — is a good example of cooperation and called upon other member states for deeper integration on the way of facilitating the implementation of this important document.

The Director General for Internal Affairs of the EU Stefano Manservizi touched upon the current challenges in the region where Tajikistan is located, and highlighted the necessity to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals.

In his speech, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan  Aslov underlined that «the Republic of Tajikistan is one of the most active participants in the global processes, in particular, in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the realization of national goals and aspirations of our country is tightly connected to this process.»

The Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan Hikmatullo Nematullozoda has presented the National Development Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period up to 2030 to the audience. During the presentation the Minister has informed about the specific objectives of this important document and stressed the need for effective cooperation in this field.

During the discussions which took place after the presentation of the strategy a number of representatives of international organizations, addressing the issue of challenges to sustainable development in Central Asia, especially in Tajikistan, noted the need to support national efforts towards the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Department of General Development of the European Commission, the Aga Khan Foundation and others exchanged views on the process of the implementation of SDG in Tajikistan.

The ceremony of the presentation of the National Development Strategy of Tajikistan for the period up to 2030 was one of the first practices to introduce ещ the European community the advantages and priorities of Central Asian countries, especially Tajikistan, towards the implementation of the program of Sustainable Development Goals which was proposed and approved by the United Nations. The Strategy was fully endorsed and approved by auditorium that strengthened the hope for successful implementation of the strategy for the sake of the country’s prosperity and sustainable development.