OSCE Chairman-in-Office to visit Central Asia

VIENNA, 2 April, 2004 - On Monday, the Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister, Solomon Passy, will begin a week-long tour of Central Asia.

His visit will start in Uzbekistan, where on 5 April under his aegis a Ministerial Conference entitled "Education as an Investment into the Future" will be held with all the five Central Asian States and Afghanistan represented.

He will also take the opportunity to personally convey his feelings of shock and sympathy on behalf of the OSCE to the Government and people of Uzbekistan over the terrorist outrages which occurred there this week.

His tour will then take him on to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, where he is to be received by those countries' Presidents and to meet and talk with their Foreign Ministers and representatives of parliament and civil society. He will also visit the OSCE Centres in each country, to be briefed on their work and to meet their staff.

All sides are set to discuss matters on the OSCE's current political agenda and the further development of democratic processes in the region.

After visiting the OSCE participating States, on Saturday the Minister intends to fly on to Afghanistan, which became one of the Organization's Partners for Co-operation in April last year.

The forthcoming visit provides Foreign Minister Passy with the opportunity for a more focused discussion with Afghan leaders on co-operation in the areas like elections, building up democratic institutions, law enforcement, border control, and respecting human rights.