April 3

Politics
1President of Uzbekistan receives OSCE Chairman-in-Office
Parliamentarian meeting discuss Uzbekistan's accession to WTO
Fifteen documents adopted at SCO Anti-terror meeting
Economics:
Uzbekistan, South Korea inked 43 bilateral documents
Uzbek President met South Korean businessmen in Seoul
Korean company to develop uranium field in Uzbekistan
Korea Resources to invest US$204m in Uzbek gold fields
Russian-Uzbek Business Forum to be held this week
Uzbekistan railways, Russia sign transportation deal
Switzerland's Zeromax to invest US$60 mln in Uzbek gas field
Uzbek Turkish textile venture opens in Ferghana region
Society
Uzbek NGOs receive funding for their projects
Conference to discuss ICT in education, science
Regional workshop "Making Safe Motherhood a Reality" to be held in Tashkent
Second premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata held at Navoi Theatre
"Between The Notes" to unite western, eastern music
Contest "Uzbekistan – tourism country" prolonged for a month

POLITICS

PRESIDENT OF UZBEKISTAN RECEIVES OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received the Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht on 1 April at Oqsaroy residence.

“You paid a visit to Uzbekistan not only as the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, but also as the Foreign Minister of Belgium,” Islam Karimov said. “Our relations with this country have always been good. Your visit is a good opportunity to closely familiarize with the situation in Uzbekistan and the whole of Central Asia, as well as processes taking place here.”

Foreign Minister of Belgium Karel De Gucht is paying the first visit to Uzbekistan as the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE. He has been serving on this post since 1 January 2006.

The Kingdom of Belgium is one of the most important centers on the international political and economic arena and occupies an important place in the European and Trans-Atlantic institutions. Belgium considers Uzbekistan as one of the leading states in Central Asia and pays great attention to cooperation with the country. At the same time, Belgium is one of the major trade and economic partners of Uzbekistan in Europe.

This year, Belgium occupies presidency in the OSCE. For this period, issues of strengthening security and stability in OSCE member states, reforming the organization, paying more attention to economy and environment, cooperation in transport communications and fighting organized crime have been defined as priority tasks. Karel De Gucht expressed readiness to develop relations with Uzbekistan on the basis of equal partnership and mutual respect. He also thanked President Islam Karimov for warm welcome.

During the negotiations, the sides discussed issues of further development of Uzbek-Belgian cooperation and the current state and perspectives of Uzbekistan-OSCE relations.

PARLIAMENTARIAN MEETING DISCUSS UZBEKISTAN'S ACCESSION TO WTO

Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan organised a round-table entitled "Perspectives of WTO (World Trade Organisation) accession: pro and con. Harmonisation of national laws to international ones".

MPs, representatives of Economy Ministry, Finance Ministry, Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade Ministry, Health Ministry, Agriculture and Water Management Ministry, Central Bank, Customs Committee and Tax Committee participated the event.

The meeting noted that 97% of world trade with goods and services fell to share of the WTO member states. Currently, 30 countries are holding negotiations with the organisation to join the WTO.

Uzbekistan got observer status in thaw WTO in 1994 and four year later presented official conception "Memorandum on foreign trade regime".

Currently, the country completed first organization phase of Uzbekistan's accession to the organization. The second phase, which already started, will focus on creation of legal base and develop general view on pros and cons and protection of interests of the country.

Sergey Chepel, head of project of Centre on social-economic policy under Cabinet of Ministers, said the accession to WTO connected with liberalization of foreign trade and connected with positive and negative trends.
He said accession to the WTO would expand foreign trade potential and increase volume of foreign investments to the country, decrease expenses in service sphere.

At the same time, there are some risks, first of all increase of foreign competition, which can hit Uzbek producers – in particular light and food industry. He said the studies showed that these industries, including agriculture sector, have largest risks.

FIFTEEN DOCUMENTS ADOPTED AT SCO ANTI-TERROR MEETING

The sixth meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's regional anti-terror agency council was held on 29 March in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, with fifteen anti-terror related documents being adopted.

According to reports reaching from Tashkent, participants at the one-day meeting agreed that the SCO anti-terror agency has increasingly become an efficient mechanism in maintaining regional security.

Chinese Vice Minister of Public Security Meng Hongwei, who held the rotating council chairmanship, lauded the increasingly important role of the anti-terror agency in maintaining peace and stability of SCO members and throughout Central Asia, Xinhua reported.

"We are satisfied with the direction of the agency's development and confident that the work to boost security among the SCO members will be a success," Meng told the meeting.

Meng also called for further strengthening of cooperation among law enforcement departments of member countries within the SCO framework, as well as for joint efforts to crack down on terrorism, separatism and extremism.

Participants adopted the 2005 work report of the SCO regional anti-terror agency. They also signed 15 documents, including the document guiding SCO members' cooperation between 2007 and 2009 in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism.

The SCO, established in 2001 in the Chinese city of Shanghai, groups Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its regional anti-terror agency came into operation in Tashkent in June 2004.

ECONOMICS

UZBEKISTAN, SOUTH KOREA INKED 43 BILATERAL DOCUMENTS

Uzbekistan and South Korea signed over 43 bilateral documents within the framework of the state visit of Uzbek President Islam Karimov to the Republic Korea, which took place last week.

17 of them are interstate, intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements and 26 are agreements and contracts in oil and gas, natural resources, light industry and banking sector.

UZBEK PRESIDENT MET SOUTH KOREAN BUSINESSMEN IN SEOUL

Four main economic structures of South Korea – Federation of Industrialists, Commerce and Industry Chamber, Small and Medium Business Federation and the International Trade Association – organised a reception for the visiting President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov in Seoul during his visit to South Korea.

The meeting of Islam Karimov with leading South Korean entrepreneurs was devoted to discussing issues of further expansion of ties between the business circles of the two states.

KOREAN COMPANY TO DEVELOP URANIUM FIELD IN UZBEKISTAN

Uzbekistan granted permission to Korea Resources Corporation (Kores) to develop uranium deposit, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said at the meeting with Korean businesses in Seoul last week.

President Karimov said South Korean company became the first, which got permission to develop uranium field in Uzbekistan.

As earlier reported, the Uzbek government and Korea Resources Corporation have signed a deal to set up a joint venture on a parity basis with a charter capital of US$8.4 million, called Uz-Kores Mining, to explore gold fields in the Kyzylkum desert. Uzbekistan is the fourth largest country in the world on reserves of gold and uranium and eighth on their production.

KOREA RESOURCES TO INVEST US$204M IN UZBEK GOLD FIELDS

South Korean mining company Korea Resources Corporation plans to invest US$204 million into the development of gold deposits in Uzbekistan, the country's State Geology and Mineral Resources Committee said Friday.

The Uzbek government and Korea Resources Corporation have signed a deal to set up a joint venture on a parity basis with a charter capital of US$8.4 million, called Uz-Kores Mining, to explore gold fields in the Kyzylkum desert, the committee said.

Uzbekistan's gold output totals about 85 tonnes annually.

RUSSIAN-UZBEK BUSINESS FORUM TO BE HELD THIS WEEK

Russian-Uzbek Business Forum will be held in Tashkent on 4-7 April, a press service of the Uzbek Chamber of Commerce and Industry told.

The press service said the business forum was agreed between Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Russia and Uzbekistan in their cooperation agreement, signed in Moscow in June 2005.

Heads of federal and territorial bodies of executive power, several Russian industrial associations and enterprises will represent the Russian side. It is expected that heads of nine territorial Chamber of Commerce and Industry will attend the forum. Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan, Ministry for Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade, State Property Committee, the Uzbek Commodity Exchange, commercial structures and private companies will represent the Uzbek side.

It is also planned to hold cooperation exchange within the framework of the forum. It is expected that several documents will be signed within the forum.

UZBEKISTAN RAILWAYS, RUSSIA SIGN TRANSPORTATION DEAL

Uzbekiston Temir Yollari (Uzbekistan Railways) and Transkonteyner, a branch of Russian Railways, have signed an agreement on the transportation of spare parts from South Korea to Uzbekistan via Russia.

The new route for the transportation of spare parts to UzDaewooAuto, located in Asaka, will decrease transportation times.

UzDaewooAuto received its first delvery of spare parts, in 54 railway cars, on 29 March.

Yuriy Morya, a representative of Transkonteyner, said the new route passes through the territory of four countries and its extension is 9,000 kilometres.

The first train left Nahodka on 17 March and in eleven days arrives in Asaka.

SWITZERLAND'S ZEROMAX TO INVEST US$60 MLN IN UZBEK GAS FIELD

ZEROMAX GMBH of Switzerland, co-founder of the KOKDUMALAK GAZ joint venture, is planning to invest US$60 million in 2006 to realize the second stage of utilization of associated gas at Uzbekistan's Kokdumalak field in the Kashkardarya region. Zeromax is planning to invest over US$400 million in exploration and development of gas condensate fields in Uzbekistan over 25 years.

* The Kokdumalak Gaz joint venture was formed in September2004 by Zeromax and UBARAKNEFTEGAZ with equal share holdings by each party.

* Last year, Kokdumalak Gaz launched the first phase of the project, with costs of US$30.9 million, for the utilization of associated gas in the Kokdumalak field.
SUMMARY

Switzerland's Zeromax GMBH plans to invest US$60 mln in 2006in 2nd stage of Kokdumalak field project in Uzbekistan.

UZBEK TURKISH TEXTILE VENTURE OPENS IN FERGHANA REGION

Margilontex, an Uzbek-Turkish joint venture, started its operation in Margilon, located in the Ferghana region of Uzbekistan.

The involves the participation of the Ferghana Plant in the production of yarn and fabrics in cooperation with Sedattextil of Turkey. The cost of the venture is US$3.7 million.

It is expected that the venture will export products worth US$3.5 million to Russia and Turkey.

It is forecast the venture will produce 2,760 tonnes of yarn annually.

SOCIETY

UZBEK NGOS RECEIVE FUNDING FOR THEIR PROJECTS

National Association of Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organisations of Uzbekistan (NANNOUz) has summed up the results of its first contest for the funding of NGOs' projects in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

With this aim in mind, the Association set up the NGO Support Fund. During the first contest the Fund considered over 80 projects of the national NGOs. As a result, 19 best projects with the total budget of nearly 73 million soums were approved. Meanwhile, both the winners and other members of the national association were motivated to work better and achieve higher results. Deputy Chairman of the NANNOUz Gulnora Eshahanova said "this event, in my opinion, is one of the most important results of the Association's activity, because this was what the national NGOs expected so anxiously - will there be a contest, will we be able to participate most of them kept enquiring. So this is the event that sums up the results of the first contest. A solid expert commission was set up to examine the received projects. And today many NGOs, which at first may be doubted the need for the National Association to begin with, are inspired. And I hear the conversations, where people say that they can and should join the association, because getting the grants is realistic.

Another important issue we are addressing today is the adoption of the draft law to regulate the activity of NGOs. In this respect, NANNOUz together with UzLiDeP (Uzbek Liberal Democratic Party) have organised the meeting to discuss the draft law "On guarantees of NGO activity". This was also done for the first time. We could expect that the law would be passed and no one would ask for our opinion and all we would be able to do is follow it. But this was a great opportunity to received information and practical recommendations from the NGOs in order for the adopted law to become a real guarantee of their activity. We traveled to regions, received wonderful suggestions and recommendations on improvement of the draft law. And now we all hope that the parliament will pass it. This is all very important to us, and we wouldn't want for the law to be left on paper, rather we would want for it to serve as a real protection of NGOs' activity. Another important aspect was in the fact that during the discussion in the parliament, its Legislative Chamber, we, as the representatives of the Association, were properly received and given the opportunity to defend the edition, explaining that these recommendations were received from the actual NGO owners and that they had to be considered."

In addition, it should be noted that in 2006 National Association of Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organisations of Uzbekistan and the NGO Support Fund are planning to conduct two more contests for the funding of projects and programmes of domestic NGOs.

CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS ICT IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE

National scientific conference "Information and communication technologies in education and science" will be held at Tashkent Information Technologies University on 6-7 April.

Uzbek Agency for Communication and Information, Higher and Secondary Special Education Ministry, Tashkent Information Technologies University and Scientific-technical society of radio technology, electronics and communication of Uzbekistan are organizers of the event.

The conference will be held in five sections, including information technologies, telecommunication networks and others.

REGIONAL WORKSHOP "MAKING SAFE MOTHERHOOD A REALITY" TO BE HELD IN TASHKENT

UNFPA office in Uzbekistan in collaboration with the Technical Support Division at UNFPA Headquarters is organizing a Regional Workshop on mainstreaming maternal mortality reduction, in Tashkent at "Radisson SAS Hotel" from 4 to 6 April 2006.

The title of the workshop is "Making Safe Motherhood a Reality". Over thirty five Government representatives and UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO programme staff from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will have an opportunity to share their experiences in the field of reducing maternal mortality, discuss strategies to mainstream maternal mortality reduction in reproductive health programmes and make the first steps to formulate their National Road Map for accelerating the Attainment of the MDGs related to Maternal and Newborn health.

The workshop is part of series of capacity building workshops undertaken throughout UNFPA to support the Governments in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. "The reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity is in the core of the mandate of UNFPA," said UNFPA Deputy Executive Director, Mr. Kunio Waki, "and we carry a share of the responsibility in the achievement for this Millennium Development Goal". Reducing maternal mortality is a priority area for UNFPA, which supports safe motherhood interventions in 89 countries, as part of its commitment to reproductive health.

UNFPA is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

SECOND PREMIERE OF GIUSEPPE VERDI'S LA TRAVIATA HELD AT NAVOI THEATRE

The second premiere of the opera by Giuseppe Verdi, La Traviata, was held on 30 March on the stage of the State Academic Bolshoy Theatre named after Alisher Navoi. The production of the Navoi Theatre has opened a new page in the history of the famous opera.

"The opening night of the opera "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi was held on 25 March. The premier was a success, and the play got second wind.

Several productions of this opera have been made on the stage of our theatre during the past 20 years. This time was different. The director of the play, national artist of Uzbekistan, Professor Firutdin Safarov set the objective for himself to make a classy play with a nice sound, and we all saw it – he was successful.

He managed to explain his ideas to the artist of the theatre Davron Rajabov. The latter, in his turn, managed to portray these ideas in beautiful stage props, which made the play so lively and realistic that the actors had no problem growing into their roles. The result was a lively, beautiful, playful and masterful production. The responsibilities of the musical director and conductor of the play were performed by the national artist of Uzbekistan Dilbar Abdurahmanova.

It should also be noted that the play was staged with the support of the Italian Embassy in Uzbekistan. We value this partnership, as this is not our first project together: in total we've had about five. The support of the Italian Embassy was particularly important in helping the actors perform in Italian, developing their accents, checking the tunefulness of the sound.

A special teacher was invited to the theater, who helped prepare our soloists. As a result, the Ambassador of Italy to Uzbekistan Angelo Persiani gave a high mark to the performance. He is a big lover of the art of opera. I would also like to note that unlike the previous production where only soloists performed in Italian, in this play the parts of the choir were also in performed in the foreign language. This creates a colossal image of melodiousness of Italian national songs, which Verdi beautifully included in this opera. It is not accidental that the play is considered to be the "pearl" of Italian opera. And the audience of Tashkent has the chance to see and enjoy this play on the stage of the State Academic Bolshoy Theatre named after Alisher Navoi."

"BETWEEN THE NOTES" TO UNITE WESTERN, EASTERN MUSIC

New British Council's project "Between The Notes" unites western and eastern musical traditions, modern and classical music.

The project aimed at establishment of long-term cultural relations between Uzbekistan and Great Britain and support development of creative unions of Uzbekistan. The project is an example of unique cooperation of leading experimental collectives of two countries in search of new forms of musical expressions.

In January 2006, famous British violoncellist, composer and founder of Between The Notes Matthew Barley started work on creation of joint programme with musical band Omnibus, founded by composer Artem Kim.

Performers of Uzbek national music and representatives of alternative direction of modern music participated in the creation of the programme. New programme includes elements of classic, jazz, ethno, alternative genres and it should serve to familiarize Uzbek people with modern classis music.

The project aimed at creation of new musical genre, which would be interesting both for professionals and wide auditory.

It is planned that Between the Notes and Cyclone of Uzbekistan will experiment on uniting club music and modern classis music at CLUB on 5 April.

On 7-8 April, State Academic Bolshoy Theatres named after Alisher Navoi will host concerts of Between the Notes and Omnibus, which will present works of famous composers and musicians themselves.

It is expected that Matthew Barley will perform solo programme in Samarkand and conduct master class for students of musical-educational establishments.

CONTEST "UZBEKISTAN – TOURISM COUNTRY" PROLONGED FOR A MONTH

Jury of the contest "Uzbekistan – tourism country", on the best logotype and slogan of Uzbekistan tourism product, summed up preliminary results. The jury considered over 230 works and decided to prolong contest for another month after it failed to reveal leader.

The jury includes representatives of Council of craftsmen and historic heritage, Council on advertisement under Uzbektourism, Association of Private Tourism Agencies of Uzbekistan, and head of UNESCO office in Uzbekistan Michael Barry Lane. The jury noted presented works did not reflect single tourism brand of Uzbekistan, which was developed on initiative of Uzbektourism in the end of 2005.

Uzbektourism said there was huge interest to contest by potential tourism image-makers, but they cannot reflect unique historic and cultural heritage of Uzbekistan and its tourism product. It should be note that among participants were advertisement companies, tourism firms, designers, artists and journalists.

Taking into account preliminary results of the contest, it should be said that hard task stands before jury. The jury should select logotype and short slogan, which would unite great historic, cultural, architectural, ethnographic, natural peculiarities of Uzbekistan and the people. They should also ensure that tourism brand of Uzbekistan was easy for perception in various languages and remain in memory of foreign tourists and increase their interest to Uzbekistan and motivate to visit country.

Uzbek tourism market attracts tourists with its historic, archeological, architectural and natural objects, which makes it competitive. New brand should show its originality and geographical location.

Uzbekistan locates in Great Silk Road and many neighboring countries (including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan) promote their products based on Great Silk Road brand. The Uzbek brand should also show this, but also reflect originality of Uzbekistan.

Lack of information on Uzbekistan creates situation when many foreign catalogues and guidebooks position Uzbekistan with Russia or Afghanistan and Pakistan, or even with unstable Central and Southern Asian states.
New brand also should be attractive for both elder and young tourists. Currently, historic and cultural heritage of Uzbekistan attracts more elder tourists compared to youngsters. The brand should attract all. Shortly, the new brand should serve to increase inflow of tourists to Uzbekistan.