Brussels to host EU-CA dialogue on Rule of Law
On 7 December 2017, Brussels will host the 5th Central Asia-European Union Ministerial Conference on the Rule of Law. The forum is held under the framework of the Estonian presidency in the EU Council in line with the Rule of Law Initiative. The ministers of justice of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Estonia, representatives of the European Commission and EU special representative for Central Asia Peter Burian will be key participants of the conference. Turkmenistan will be represented by the adalat minister Bekmyrat Mukhammedov. The meeting will review the achievements in the development of access to justice in the countries of Central Asia, as well as in France and Germany. It is also planned to sum up the implementation of the Joint Ministerial Declaration, adopted in 2014 at the previous conference. Particular attention will be paid to the introduction of an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism, that is, procedures of extrajudicial settlement of disputes. The Rule of Law Initiative was launched in November 2008 and remains one of the core elements of the EU Strategy for Central Asia. The Initiative, focused on constitutional, criminal and administrative law, as well as the training of lawyers, aims at helping Central Asian countries to harmonize their legislation with international (mainly European) standards through legal and judicial reforms. In December 2011, the Initiative started the Rule of Law Platform project, which is umbrella for the meetings at ministerial, regional and national levels to review policy decisions related to legal reforms, training for professional lawyers, and other technical assistance.
