At the first quarter of November 2021, Irīna Kulitāne, the manager of the AgroDev project and Umed Aslanov, the regional coordinator, visited Uzbekistan to discuss topical issues with the partners of the two ongoing Erasmus+ Programme funded projects, for which Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies is a coordinator, and to meet other institutions whose involvement and support play a significant role for successful implementation.

On November 2, during a meeting with the Latvian ambassador to Uzbekistan, the ambassador Reinis Trokša and embassy staff were acquainted with the two projects. In view of the planning of study visits of the academic staff of the partner universities to Latvia and the other EU partner countries involved in the projects, visa issues were discussed.

On the same day, meetings were held with Alisher Shukurov, the advisor to the Uzbekistan’s Minister for Agriculture in economic, innovative development and investment issues.

On 2 November, the project manager and regional coordinator met Aziza Abdurakhmanova, Head of the Uzbekistan’s National Erasmus+ Office, and an expert Kudrathon Bakhadirov. During the meeting various issues were discussed, including the reinforcement of the publicity of the project and the dissemination of the knowledge and materials generated.

On 3 and 4 November, working meetings with the administrative and academic staff of the Uzbekistan’s higher education institutions involved in the projects were held. On November 3, Tashkent State Agrarian University was visited. On November 4 a meeting with staff of the Samarkand branch of Tashkent State University of Economics was held. The partners discussed the work done so far, the results achieved, the challenges and the next steps.

On 5 November there was an opportunity to meet with the Ministry for Innovative Development. Shahlo Turdikulova, the deputy minister, was delighted to hear inclusion of sustainability principles in the study programmes to be upgraded under the AgroDev project.

Even though the implementation of the projects started in January this year, this was the first visit and presence meeting. The agreements negotiated and reached during the visit is a proof of the effectiveness of spot-on measures and a basis for further work, which is expected to be very intensive for both projects.