"But, the decision to raid his place was taken as late as in October. When his flat on the eighth floor of an apartment building in Qora-Su in Tashkent's Mirzo Ulugbek district was raided, the police found only part of the arms. Literally in a few hours' time, another arms storage place with much more weapons was found and raided," the TV said.

"The arms were smuggled into Uzbekistan for sale from neighbouring CIS countries. All the weapons, most of them automatic, were in a state ready for use. Moreover, we seized a large amount of ammunition: cartridges to Kalashnikov assault rifles and Makarov pistols, and explosives. such as TNT, and hand grenades," an unidentified officer of the Tashkent police department for fighting organized crime and extremism said.

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"This is a quite positive factor" in relations between the two countries, the Kazakh first deputy prime minister said.

In 1999 the Uzbek side imposed a ban on the import of a "long list" of goods from Kazakhstan, Akhmetov recalled. He said that the list had been now reduced to nine items.

Akhmetov said that this meant Uzbekistan "had taken Kazakhstan's proposal into account" and "had taken measures to liberalize bilateral trade".

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significant event has taken place in the lives of farmers in Chust District of eastern Namangan Region. The first section of the Tepaqorghon pumping station has been put into operation and it has started transferring water from the North Fergana canal to the Chust canal.

This amount of water is quite enough to provide over 5,000 ha of land with water. By spring, when the second section is put into operation, another 10,000 ha of land will receive water.

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he ECOSAN international foundation has held many events over the past year under the slogan "A Healthy Environment is the Guarantor of A Healthy Generation", along with nationwide labour campaigns.

Another charity action was organized at the end of the year: a special aircraft carrying humanitarian aid left Tashkent for the environmentally afflicted [eastern] Karakalpakistan and [western] Khorezm Regions today. The cargo, called "Aral Mothers and Children", contains a variety of freight, medicines, children's clothes and wheelchairs. This humanitarian cargo has been bought with money generated through unpaid voluntary labour carried out nationwide as part of ecology and health campaigns and ecological festivals. Members of a number of foreign diplomatic corps, ministries and departments, and joint ventures have taken an active part in this charity action.

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aifa-based Bateman Projects Ltd., a subsidiary of Bateman Middle East, recently signed a $158.5 million contract for the design, supply, and management of a booster compressor station for natural gas in Uzbekistan, the company said yesterday.

Bateman has been involved in gas and oil projects in Siberia and has operated with Israel's Merhav group in Turkmenistan and other states of the Former Soviet Union in similar projects.

According to the company, the natural gas station will be built adjacent to the Shurtan gas fields, which supplies 75 percent of Uzbekistan's domestic needs. Bateman said the project was attributed to a natural depletion of gas pressure at the the Shurtan fields. Furthermore the planned construction of a compressor station will enable Uzbekneftgas, the national oil and gas company to utilize the Shurtan fields reserves for an additional 20 years.

In a company statement, Bateman said the project was financed on guarantees from the US Exim Bank and Israel Foreign Trade Risks Insurance Company (IFTRIC), with the initiative completed within two years.

The company said that Uzbek firms will build the physical station. Bateman will be involved in training, and consulting work on-site. Additionally, the Israeli company will have general control over the project, operating the supply of parts, while advising Uzbeki workers on-site.

This is the third natural gas project awarded to Bateman in the FSU. The Shurtan venture in Uzbekistan follows the Tomskneft project in Siberia, and Turkmengas in Turkmenistan, totalling $600m. in awarded projects.

Bateman is a subsidiary of the South African Bateman Industrial Corp. Bateman Project Holdings Limited is an international engineering, contracting and project management group. The Group operates through strategic business units, subsidiaries and associated companies, offering a wide range of technological and project services to the mining, minerals processing, metallurgic, agricultural and environmental protection industries.

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