Fight against terrorism high on agenda of CiO visit to Uzbekistan

TASHKENT, 31 October 2002 - "Uzbekistan's role in the fight against international terrorism and religious extremism is highly valued," said the OSCE Chairman-in-Office (CiO), Portugal's Foreign Minister, Antonio Martins da Cruz, ending an official visit to Tashkent.

"Uzbekistan is a country which is in the front line of the fight against terrorism. My talks with President Islam Karimov on this issue were very positive and we agreed to further enhance our co-operation not only in Uzbekistan, but also in the whole Central Asian region," he stressed, before travelling to neighbouring Turkmenistan.

President Karimov, for his part, said, "Co-operation between Uzbekistan and the OSCE has been significantly strengthened during the last year, in particular, after the international community started its fight against terrorism."

The CiO stated that fostering the anti terrorist coalition and the co-operation with the Central Asian states were priorities for the OSCE. He said possible projects in the economic and environmental field were discussed during his talks, and that one of them could be a project related to water management.

In addition to his talks with the President and Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov, the CiO also met representatives of civil society. During the meeting the CiO expressed OSCE's concern about problems related to the human dimension, the work of democratic institutions and environmental issues. Representatives of human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs)spoke about their activities, the situation of human rights in Uzbekistan and the difficulties they face.

Foreign Minister da Cruz underlined the importance for the OSCE of continued co-operation with NGOs and to monitor the development of the civil society.