resident Islam Karimov appointed Bakhtiyor Olimjonov, former vice-premiere and minister for agriculture and water management, as (khokim) governor of Surkhandarya province instead of the fired Jura Noraliev for his poor performance in the province.

zbekistan Airlines will begin bi-weekly international flights from here from 26th March, the first international airline to have direct link with Europe and America from the holy city of northern Indian state of Punjab, a top official of the airlines said Saturday 25th March.

The Boeing 757 with a capacity of 180 passengers will operate on Sundays and Fridays from Amritsar to Tashkent, having connecting flights from the Uzbek capital to major destinations in Europe, America and the CIS Commonwealth of Independent States countries, Kanwaljit Singh, general manager, Uzbekistan Airlines told PTI.

Singh said 115 passengers had been booked for the first flight on Sunday from Amritsar airport, the first after Air India terminated its international flights from the city in 1992. He said two sky marshals would be flying in each flight which would also be operating six times a week from Delhi to Tashkent.

he Uzbek-Swiss-German joint venture Hobas-TAPO (Tashkent) has begun production of centrifugal non-metal pipes for pipelines, general director Sultan Muminov has told Interfax.

The project, whose cost totals 83.12m dollars, provides for the production of non-metal pipes for pipelines in the republic's oil, gas and chemical industries, Muminov said. Moreover, the joint venture's products will be used for the needs of Uzbekistan's utilities. Non-metal pipes will be produced with Swiss company Hobas AG technology. The plant is to produce 970 km of pipes with a diameter of between 200 and 2,400 mm annually.

The enterprise intends to use sand, glass fibre and polyester resin as raw materials, he said. So far, Uzbekistan has used only imported ferrous pipes. Non-metal pipes last for 75 years or five times longer than their metal counterparts.

Initially, raw material for non-metal pipes is to be imported, but in 2-3 years, Muminov said, he believes the plant will operate on domestic raw material. Fifty per cent of Hobas-TAPO output will be exported, and the rest will be sold on the domestic market.

Hobas-Tapo was established at the end of 1997. On the Uzbek side, it includes the Tashkent-based Chkalov Aviation Corporation, which holds 50 per cent of the joint venture's charter fund. Swiss Hobas AG holds 47.5 per cent and German Wemex Handel GmbH 2.5 per cent of the fund.

s of 1st April 2000, nonresidents in Uzbekistan are to pay for services in hard currency, not in the national currency, the som. Under a government decree announced on Uzbek TV on 24th March and published in the press the following day, nonresidents are to pay for telecommunications services, accommodation, tourism, educational, health transport and other services in hard currency, in cash at specified banks, by bank transfer or by plastic card. Uzbek enterprises are obliged to sell 50 per cent of the currency receipts for payable services to the Uzbek Central Bank. The following is the text of the decree as published in Uzbek newspapers.

With the aim of strengthening and further developing the nonexchange currency market, preventing violation of the existing legislation on circulation of cash foreign currency on the territory of Uzbekistan and improving the mechanism of settling accounts for payable services rendered to physical persons who are nonresidents of the Republic of Uzbekistan by enterprises, organizations and establishments, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan resolves:

1.As of 1st April 2000, payments from nonresidents of the Republic of Uzbekistan for payable services rendered by enterprises, organizations and establishments of the Republic of Uzbekistan are to be carried out only in freely convertible currency, in accordance with appendix No1.

2. It is to be defined that physical persons who are nonresidents of the Republic of Uzbekistan should pay for services of enterprises, establishments and organizations, with the exception for services involving air, railway and international motor transport, through departments of the National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity, Asaka Bank and Uzsanoatqurilishbank Uzbek Industrial and Construction Bank.

Freely convertible currency can be paid in cash or by transfer from currency accounts of physical persons who are nonresidents of the Republic of Uzbekistan opened at authorized banks of the Republic of Uzbekistan or at foreign banks, as well as by using debit, credit and plastic cards.

3. Fifty per cent of currency receipts from payable services paid into branches of the above-mentioned banks must obligatorily be sold to the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The remaining 50 per cent should be transferred to special currency accounts of enterprises, establishments and organizations which render payable services to physical persons who are nonresidents.

Transactions involving the transfer to bank accounts of the som equivalent of the foreign currency received from the obligatory sale of the foreign currency receipts, as well as of currency left at the disposal of enterprises, establishments and organizations which render payable service to nonresidents, should be handled by the banks within three working days.

4. The existing procedure is to be preserved at the Ozbekiston Havo Yollari Uzbekistan Airways national company, the Ozbekiston Temir Yollari Uzbekistan Railways state joint-stock company and the Ozavtotrans Uzbek motor transport state corporation, whereby services to nonresidents are rendered through special desks and currency receipts are obligatorily paid in daily to the authorized bank.

5. Foreign airlines and their missions and agencies which render air and accompanying services are to be granted the right to sell tickets for international flights to nonresidents for freely convertible currency, through special desks, and the currency receipts are to be obligatorily paid in daily to the authorized bank.

6. The procedure for rendering payable services on the territory of Uzbekistan to physical persons who are nonresidents is to be endorsed.

The Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan together with the Central Bank and authorized banks are to exercise strict supervision to ensure that the set procedure for rendering payable services to nonresidents, and that currency receipts are obligatorily sold and paid in on time.

7. The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan together with the Ministry of Finance, Central Bank and other interested ministries and departments are:

within 10 days to submit proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers for amendments and addenda to the existing legislation arising from the present resolution;

to ensure that the necessary legal enactments are brought into line with the present resolution.

8. Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan B. Bakhtiyor Hamidov and Chairman of the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan F. Fayzulla Mullajonov are to be placed in charge of supervising the implementation of the resolution.

CIS staff exercise, code-named "Commonwealth Southern Shield-2000", will be held in Central Asia from March 24 to April 3. Taking part in it will be Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, Itar-Tass was told here on Wednesday at the Headquarters for Coordinating Military Cooperation among CIS Countries.

Its programme includes a staff training session at one of the Uzbek testing grounds involving troop control structures, infantry and other forces of the Central Asian nations and Russia, field firing exercises with the participation of motorised infantry, artillery, and air force.

Such CIS exercises have become traditional. A four-day staff military exercise was held in March 1999 at the Headquarters for Coordinating Military Cooperation. Proposals were drawn up on the basis of its results to make to keep the peace in one of the Central Asian countries of the Commonwealth. A large-scale "Commonwealth Southern Shield-1999" exercises was held in October-November 1999 with the participation of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Principal attention was devoted then to the elaboration of measures to combat international terrorism. Polished off also were methods of joint work between military command structures and actions by forces, belonging to the above-said nations, to prepare and carrying out operations to wipe out invading bandit gangs. The Coordination HQ believes that these exercises have helped to check in action the presently existing mechanisms for implementing the CIS Collective Security Treaty, as well as the effectiveness of regional and bilateral security accords.

he Central Political Council of Vatan Taraqqiyoti party held its plenary meeting to listen to a report on the work of the council in 1999, discuss proposals on amendments and addenda to the party's programme of action, outline tasks for 2000 and consider the question of preparing and distributing a new form of party membership cards. The meeting also examined an organizational question. The meeting agreed to examine the issue of introducing amendments to the party programme in 20 days. The need to reconsider the party structure and reduce the central apparatus was also noted.

At his personal request the first secretary of the Central Political Council of Vatan Taraqqiyoti party, Afzal Azizov, was releived of his duties. A Supreme Assembly deputy, deputy chairman of the Supreme Assembly Committee for Economic Reforms and Entrepreneurship, Komiljon Yoldoshev, was elected first secretary of the Central Political Council of Vatan Taraqqiyoti party.

he first round of talks on the introduction of a visa regime between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan has ended in Tashkent. "Official Tashkent is concerned about the fact that the transparency of borders is being increasingly actively used by criminals to smuggle drugs and arms," the head of the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry's Consular Department, Urmat Saralayev, said. The Uzbek party has drawn up a package of documents which will strictly regulate the stay of foreigners on Uzbek territory, Saralayev said. The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry put forward its own suggestions, which were discussed at the Tashkent talks a few days ago.

"We proposed to consider the possibility of visa-free travel [to Uzbekistan] for some categories of our citizens," Saralayev said. "We suggested that these categories should include the inhabitants of border areas, pupils and students, pensioners and diplomatic staff. We have not reached full mutual understanding on this issue so far."

The next round of talks is expected to be held in early April. The head of the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry's Consular Department said that Kazakhstan and Russia were expected to change their visa regulations as well as.

fghanistan's Northern alliance commander Ahmadshah Masood and ethnic Uzbek leader Abdurashid Dustum on Wednesday discussed the military and political situation in Afghanistan and joint efforts against their common enemy -- the Taleban. The meeting between Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani's personal envoy and Masood's former partner in the anti-Taleban coalition was held in the Uzbek port town of Termez on the border with Afghanistan, military-diplomatic sources said.

The sources said the meeting was extremely important and involved representatives of Uzbekistan, Russia and Tajikistan. Dustum, the influential leader of a large community of ethnic Uzbeks in northern Afghanistan, fled first to Turkey and then to Iran in the summer of 1998 after the defeat of his forces near Mazar-i-Sh`rif, turned into the capital of the Northern alliance after Rabbani had been forced out of Kabul by the Taleban.

Now that the Taleban has launched a new large-scale offensive in the north of Afghanistan, Dustum offered his former partner to join forces against Islamic fundamentalists. The sources said Masood "welcomed this decision and Dustum's return to the native land". Speaking of the situation in Afghanistan, a representative of Afghan military-diplomatic sources said fighting has been going on lately between the Taleban and the Northern alliance in the northwest of the country. There is information indicating that the Taleban is concentrating its forces on the northern outskirts of Kabul for a further thrust against its enemies.

he Uzbek authorities are planning to build a sugar plant in the Denau District of southern Surkhandarya Region, the Turkiston Press news agency said in a report published in the Uzbek newspaper `Pravda Vostoka' on 15th March. The project, estimated to be worth 18.9m dollars, will be financed by an eight-year loan of over 16.95m dollars from the French bank Commerciale de France, under Uzbek government guarantee. Two French firms will give technical support, the agency said. One will provide the project with equipment for producing sugar and edible alcohol and the other with the necessary agricultural know-how on cultivating sugar beet. Once put into operation in late summer of 2001, the plant will have an annual capacity of 15,900 tonnes of sugar and 200,000 decalitres of edible alcohol, the agency added.

he Uzbek tax service is to be reorganized in order to step up the fight against tax crimes. Under a government decree, a new department for fighting tax crimes will be set up under the State Tax Committee, as well as a monitoring and auditing department. Another new department - for administration and personnel policy - will fight corruption among tax officers. The staff of these new departments will be paid a monthly bonus worth 20 per cent of their salaries. The following are excerpts from the decree carried by the Uzbek newspaper `Narodnoye Slovo':

Decree by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan on further improvement of the management of the state tax service

With a view to strengthening the tax discipline, ensuring strict observation of the tax code and full and timely payment of taxes, toughening state control over uncovering and preventing tax offences and improving the work of tax bodies, the Cabinet of Ministers decrees:

1. To approve:

the management structure of the Uzbek State Tax Committee;

the structure of the Uzbek State Tax Committee's central apparatus.

2. From 1st April 2000 to cut by about 10 per cent the staff of the State Tax Committee. The redundant staff and freed funds are to be used to reinforce and strengthen a Main Operational Department for Fighting Tax Crimes and its local branches.

The chairman of the State Tax Committee shall be allowed to have four deputies, including one first deputy, and an 11-strong collegium.

3. Out of the redundant staff to set up within the State Tax Committee a Main Operational Department for Fighting Tax Crimes and its corresponding branches in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, the Regions and the city of Tashkent.

The main tasks of the Main Operational Department for Fighting Tax Crimes and its branches will be the following:

to reveal and prevent tax crimes;

to reveal the corporate bodies and private individuals which have not registered themselves with tax bodies and are evading taxes and other payments;

to reveal and prevent breaches of the established cash circulation regulations;

to organize jointly with law-enforcement agencies an effective task force and investigation system to deal with tax crimes and ensure compensation of budget losses;

to institute criminal proceedings in accordance with the set order and hand over cases to law-enforcement agencies;

to record tax crimes and check and analyse corresponding information.

4. To set up within the central apparatus of the State Tax Committee:

a Main Monitoring and Auditing Department to check books and audit the accounts of economic entities;

a Main Department for Administration and Personnel Policy, which would include a special department to fight corruption in state tax agencies.

5. To establish that:

the Main Operational Department for Fighting Tax Crimes and its branches and the Main Monitoring and Auditing Department are to report to the first deputy chairman of the State Tax Committee;

the Main Department for Administration and Personnel Policy is to report to the deputy chairman of the State Tax Committee in charge of administration and personnel policy.

6. To approve organizational structures of state tax departments of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, the regions and the city of Tashkent and District, town and town district state tax departments.

7. The staff of the Main Operational Department for Fighting Tax Crimes and its branches and that of the Main Monitoring and Auditing Department are to be paid from the republican budget special bonuses worth 20 per cent of their salaries.

8. The State Tax Committee shall:

within two weeks draw up and submit for approval to the Cabinet of Ministers new versions of the regulations on the republican State Tax Committee and regulations on the Main Operational Department for Fighting Tax Crimes, the Main Monitoring and Auditing Department and the Main Department for Administration and Personnel Policy;

before 1st May this year hold a contest for the best design of a uniform for tax officers to be introduced in 2001.

9. The Ministry of Finance jointly with the State Tax Committee shall within a month solve the issue of allocating an additional number of vehicles for the Main Operational Department for Fighting Tax Crime and its branches.

10. The Ministry of Internal Affairs shall assign investigators graduated from its academy to work in the State Tax Committee's Main Operational Department for Fighting Tax Crimes.

11. The department for construction and construction materials industry of the Cabinet of Ministers (Isayev) jointly with the State Tax Committee, the Ministry of Macroeconomics and Statistics, the Ministry of Finance and Bukhara and Fergana Regional administrations shall within two months hand over two newly built colleges in the towns of Bukhara and Fergana to the State Tax Committee to open in them by 1st September 2000 tax colleges capable of accommodating 200 students each.

12. To approve the proposal by the State Tax Committee and the Ministry of Finance to abolish the Bukhara and Samarkand town tax agencies and the Kirguli district tax agency in the town of Fergana.

ccording to Uzbekistan's Ministry of Macroeconomy and Statistics, oil production increased by 0.2 per cent in 1999 [compared with the previous year]. Gas extraction last year was 1.4 per cent up and reached 55.6 bln. cubic metres.

Maintaining the extraction rates achieved was a major task for the industry last year. There has been stabilization followed by dynamic growth in the oil and gas industry of Uzbekistan over the last few years. Uzbek Oil and Gas was turned into a holding company in 1998. As a result of increasing the efficiency of production capacities at the sector's enterprises, mainly at the Bukhara oil refinery, production of petrol increased by 1.2 per cent, of diesel fuel by 0.1 per cent and of bitumen by 2.6 per cent. As for exports of oil, these have now reached 600,000 tonnes per year.

A total of 1.2bn dollars of foreign investment have been attracted into the industry since 1991, of which about 182m dollars were used last year. In particular, the Khodzaabad underground gas storage facility in Andizhan Region was commissioned in July last year. The 72m-dollar facility was built in a short period of time for uninterrupted supply of whole Fergana Valley with natural gas. According to the 2000 state investment programme, 165.7m dollars of investments is to be used in the oil and gas sector, the bulk of it to be allocated to complete the construction this year of the Shurtan gas and chemical complex [in the southern Kashkadarya Region].

ussian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov visited the Tashkent aviation plant named after Valeriy Chkalov on Friday. He is sure that Russia and Uzbekistan will form the world's largest aviation concern. "All documents are being prepared to form an interstate aviation company with participation of the Tashkent aviation plant named after Valeriy Chkalov. I think that in May, at the latest, we will sign documents and form one of the strongest and largest aviation concerns of the world," Klebanov said.

here are always favourite holidays. Among seven national holidays in Uzbekistan Navruz holiday is the most anxiously waited along with New Year. Navruz is an ancient spring holiday that has been celebrated for almost three thousand years by various Asian nations. For centuries Uzbekistan has marked the spring equinox with great joy. But only since Independence of Uzbekistan in 1991, Navruz became a national holiday. It's been always a popular event among the peoples of all ages. Children make kites, juniors prepare costumes for festivities and parades and elderly women from a neighborhood cook Sumalak.

Sumalak is the only food that is made once a year especially for Navruz. It is cooked with seven grains, walnuts, flour, and surprisingly, stones. Stones are put into a large caldron to keep the substance inside from getting burned. For the same reason Sumalak requires constant stirring. It takes all day long to prepare Sumalak — hours of continual stirring. The women usually sing songs, play drums and tell stories to keep each other awake. Finally by the dawn light or dark-brown color porridge is served to all the families in the neighborhood. Some call this holiday — a Spring New Year. It is a signal for farmers to begin a new season.

festival dedicated to the International Day of the French Language is to end here on Monday with a concert of works by French-speaking composers. A source at the French Embassy in Uzbekistan has told Itar-Tass that the Uzbek Ministry of Culture with the participation of the French and Swiss Embassies and the Alliance, Francaise association have prepared an extensive cultural programme. Representatives of regional centres of the republic have arrived here to attend the concluding concert as well as a competition for the knowledge of the French language and culture. A winner will be able to travel to France, the Embassy source pointed out. A conference on the French language as well as on the culture and history of the Swiss Confederation is to be held at a Tashkent school with the participation of Swiss scholars. Book lovers will get an opportunity to visit a Swiss Novel exhibition.

zbek President Islam Karimov praised the state of the Russo-Uzbek relations and voiced the striving of his country to fulfil the agreement on deepening the bilateral military and military-technical cooperation when receiving Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergey Ivanov and Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov on Friday. The agreement was signed on 11th October 1999, during the Uzbek visit of Vladimir Putin. Karimov hopes that "efforts, which are now being taken, will bring results - stability in central Asia and the end to expansion, religious fanaticism and terrorism".

ecretary of the Russian Security Council Sergey Ivanov, Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov and Minister for the CIS Leonid Drachevskiy ended a working visit to Uzbekistan on Friday after discussing a wide range of regional security aspects, measures on terrorism and the illegal trafficking of narcotic drugs, and prospects for the bilateral relations.

The Russian delegation had negotiations at the Uzbek National Security Committee and the Defence Ministry and was received by First Deputy Prime Minister Bakhtiyar Khamidov. Uzbek President Islam Karimov received the delegation, too. He noted the strengthening neighbourly relations between Russia and Uzbekistan and said that his country viewed Russia "as a key strategic partner, and Russians as a friendly people."

The President, who had initiated the creation of an international anti-terrorist centre, urged joint measures to fight any manifestations of religious extremism and terrorism. The sides decided to continue consultations on security of Russia, Uzbekistan and the Central Asia. Other aspects of the bilateral relations were discussed as well.