Embassy of Uzbekistan in Belgium, Mission to European Union

13 April, 2006

Content:
Politics
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Round table discusses cooperation in the sphere of border crossing
Safety of passenger transportation in focus – Uzbek official
Kyrgyz Official says Hizb Ut-Tahrir Key Threat

Economics:
Government to invest US$109m in road reconstruction
FOTON: to save electric power
DAEWOO International to improve conditions of Uzbek textile firms
Machine and tractor parks assist farms

Society
UzReport launches new service for companies, journalists

POLITICS

AT THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

April 10, 2006. The Amnesty International in its report “Below the radar: Secret flights to torture and ‘disappearance’” published o¬n April 5, 2006 informs about detention and illegal secretive transportation of terror suspects o¬n special aircrafts which were allegedly carried out “in collaboration, participation or consent of other governments”.

Also, Uzbekistan is unfoundedly indicated among countries in which such aircrafts landed.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan declares that the allegation by the Amnesty International runs counter to reality. In all probability, it is based o¬n assumptions of the organization rather then o¬n real facts.

ROUND TABLE DISCUSSES COOPERATION IN THE SPHERE OF BORDER CROSSING

Production of drugs is growing in Afghanistan, and everyone knows that the income from the sale of drugs is spent for financing of terrorist groups.

"It is no secret that drug traffic along terrorism is among the threats to security," Abdurahmon Azimov, Chief of Defence, Law and Order Department under the President of Tajikistan, said on 10 April at opening of a two-day meeting of experts on cooperation in the field of border crossing between Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries. Supporting the establishment of a solid barrier on the path of drug business, Uzbekistan undertakes all necessary measures on implementation of obligations before the global society. In line with conventions, adopted by the United Nations in 1961, 1971 and 1988, Uzbekistan adopted the Law "On drugs and psychotropic substances". The country's firm position in this issue is recognised widely by the international society. It is noteworthy that Uzbek law-enforcement bodies have destroyed over 37 tonnes of seized drugs since 1994. Tajik law-enforcement bodies seized 4.5 tonnes of drugs in 2005, and over 1 tonne of drugs since the beginning of 2006. Notably, the overwhelming portion of these drugs was detained on the Tajik-Afghan border line.

SAFETY OF PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION IN FOCUS – UZBEK OFFICIAL

The decree and resolutions of the President Islam Karimov aimed at providing safety of passenger transportation and increasing service quality are of crucial importance. Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, colonel Abdulla Kuldashev spoke of the implementation of these documents.

"The number of vehicles in the country is increasing very rapidly," said Kuldashev. "This is the result of the increasing living standards of the population, improved quality of transportation services, and development of the car industry. The flow of cars and route buses on city and rural roads has risen substantially. This in turn requires the solution of certain tasks, particularly associated with the provision of safety on the roads, organisation of a sound system of services based on contemporary requirements”.

The decrees and resolutions of the Uzbek President, envisaging the provision of safety of the lives and health conditions of the country's citizens laid the responsibility for implementation of measures on prevention of road accidents, and improvement of the quality of public transportation services on the ministry. In particular, the ministry has been instructed to take a highly responsible approach to the provision of safety on the roads and prevention of violations in the field of passenger transportation, as well as control over the technical condition of the vehicles intended for the transportation of passengers. In pursuit to these documents, the Ministry of Internal Affairs developed and consistently implemented a set of measures intended to raise the conscientiousness of the staff of State Road Safety Service for conducting regular technical examinations and maintaining control over the technical condition of vehicles. Attention was given to the technical examination of the vehicles used in the transportation of passengers on commercial basis. At the same time, special focus was made on vehicles' compliance with the required technical condition and equipment standards, road safety norms, as well as registration documents.

The ministry, together with the departments and agencies concerned has worked out a set of measures intended to strengthen the safety of passenger transportation and raise the quality of services. In particular, strict control will be exercised over the compliance with the requirements on technical condition of transportation means, as well as the norms and rules of their use.

KYRGYZ OFFICIAL SAYS HIZB UT-TAHRIR KEY THREAT

The head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee on Religious Affairs, Omurzak Mamayusupov, says the spread of extremist ideas by Hizb ut-Tahrir is currently the greatest religious challenge that Central Asia faces.

ECONOMICS

GOVERNMENT TO INVEST US$109M IN ROAD RECONSTRUCTION

The Government of Uzbekistan has approved the Programme of Reconstruction and Repair of Automobile Roads in the Republic. Special attention will be given to highways that are part of the international transportation corridors.
Currently the total country road length constitutes 146,400 km, including 43,500 km of general use trunk road, of which 3,200 km are of international and 18,800 km are domestic use.

In 2006, Uzbekistan is planning to invest some 132 billion soums (around US$109 million) in the reconstruction of automobile roads, UzAvtoYol (Uzbek Automobile Roads) State Company said.

The project will be financed mainly by the Road Fund (some 92.63 billion soums worth investment), as well as by regional and district administrations (12.26 billion soums). Some other sources of financing are to be attracted by means of foreign investments and grants. They total volume should reach 27.11 billion soums.

Currently, automobile transportation accounts for over 95% of all cargo transportations in the country.

FOTON: TO SAVE ELECTRIC POWER

President Islam Karimov, in his report at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on the results of socio-economic development of the country in 2005, and top priorities in intensifying economic reforms in 2006, stressed the need to implement comprehensive measures to exercise strict control over the rational utilization of energy resources, particularly in the spheres consuming large volumes of energy - chemical production, non-ferrous metallurgy and power industry.

Tashkent based, open joint-stock company FOTON, specializing in the production of electric technical appliances and technology, has carried out a set of measures to economize on the energy resources.

"We have set up the production of bulbs which can substantially reduce the consumption of electric energy," said Deputy Chairman of the Board of FOTON OJSC Ahmad Rahmatov. "This stimulated the increase in the demand for our products. These bulbs consume electric energy 5.5 times less than regular ones. Meanwhile, their durability is 10 times higher. If a regular bulb will last around 1,000 hours, these new ones have the guarantee period of 10,000 hours.

Our company has organised the production of equipment used in transformation of solar energy into electric power. This equipment should prove especially useful in remote areas and villages. We have another innovation related to the heating collectors. They are capable of heating water using the sunlight. They can be used to heat the houses in winter."

The products of FOTON company are exported to Russia, Ukraine and other countries.

DAEWOO INTERNATIONAL TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS OF UZBEK TEXTILE FIRMS

Uzbekistan is planning to attract South Korean Daewoo International to improve conditions of low-income textile companies.

It is expected that the Korean company will receive management of several textile companies, which are in bankruptcy process or external management introduced.

Daewoo International has eight years of experience in Uzbekistan. The company invested US$50 million in textile plant in Ferghana region.

Uzbeklegprom (Uzbek Light Industry) and Daewoo International already signed protocol of intention on realisation of this project (signed during the visit of Uzbek leader to Korea in March 2006).

Within protocol, Korean side will develop feasibility study on reorganisation of textile enterprises in Uzbekistan. The volume of the investments will be determined at feasibility study.

Currently, the list of six enterprises was submitted to the Uzbek government for concordance, but the sides are considering to expand the list.

MACHINE AND TRACTOR PARKS ASSIST FARMS

This year the farmers of Ferghana have sown cotton on the area of 115,000 hectares of land.

Well-prepared for the new season machine and tractors parks are providing them strong assistance with the fieldwork. According to the regional department of agriculture and water management, over 1,200 units of technology were involved in sowing works.

Last year Uchkuprik Machine and Tractor Park joint-stock company provided services to six shirkats (collective farms) and 270 private farms for the total of 800 million soums. The company's profit for the year exceeded 25 million soums.

In order to further improve the activity of the company, last year six new tractors were purchased for a credit, eight - on leasing basis. This year the company has signed an agreement with the farmers of Uchkuprik district for 900 million soums.

SOCIETY

UZREPORT LAUNCHES NEW SERVICE FOR COMPANIES, JOURNALISTS

UzReport, leading business portal of Uzbekistan, launched new service for journalists and businesses of Uzbekistan on Thursday, 13 April. The new service UzNewsWire, available at http://newswire.uzreport.com, or http://www.uznewswire.com, creates single platform for distribution of press-releases and currently it is only similar project in Uzbekistan.

UzNewsWire should cut expenses and time of companies to spread their newsworthy information to media and public. It should also help journalists to get reliable information and contacts.

The service is free-of-charge and UzNewsWire charges companies only for translation and additional services.

"We hope that our new service will be useful for companies and journalists and develop media market in Uzbekistan," Anvar Umarov, editor-in-chief of UzReport, said.