Brussels  - European Union officials Tuesday said Uzbekistan had made important progress on human rights issues, but insisted that it was still too early to say whether the progress had been enough to convince the bloc to lift a travel ban on Uzbek regime members.

The EU has "noted the progress Uzbekistan has made, such as the abolition of the death penalty ... and the release of political prisoners," French Minister for Europe Jean-Pierre Jouyet, who chaired the meeting of the EU-Uzbekistan cooperation council, said.