26/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - Catherine Ashton in Central Asia. After travelling to Georgia on Monday 26 November to meet Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and President Mikheil Saakashvili, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton will be in Central Asia from Tuesday 27 to Friday 30 November. On Tuesday she will be in Kyrgyzstan where she will chair the EU-Central Asia ministerial meeting in Bishkek with the ministers of foreign affairs from the five countries of the region (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). Key issues of common interest will be on the programme of this meeting - such as security and regional cooperation, energy, the environment, water and other priority areas of the EU-Central Asia Strategy like education, the rule of law, human rights and initiatives on civil society. Ashton is also due to meet the president, foreign affairs minister and civil society in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, and will meet their counterparts in Uzbekistan on Wednesday, in Tajikistan on Thursday and in Kazakhstan on Friday. On Friday Ashton will give a speech in Astana on relations between Central Asia and the EU. (CG/transl.fl)