A runway for aircraft and helicopter take-off and landing has recently been put into operation at the training centre of the Directorate of Internal Affairs of Khorezm Region. The republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Uzbekistan Airways national airline allocated two planes to the directorate some time ago. Since acquiring a Mi-2 helicopter, the Khorezm Directorate of Internal Affairs has considerably increased its combat readiness.

The special group would assist in maintaining surveillance of Uzbekistan's northern borders. The use of the aircraft has improved the air control of the republic's borders which pass through the territory of the Region.

At the same time, the Regional Directorate of Internal Affairs with the help of the Regional administration organized voluntary work to construct a military training ground in order to raise the personnel's combat readiness to a higher level. The training ground was opened at a ceremony the other day. Khorezm paratroopers who had undergone special training opened the ceremony with a parachute display demonstrating their skills.

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erman bank, Berliner Bank, will finance a DM 68.3m project to build an Uzbek-Swiss glass fibre venture in Uzbekistan. Under a loan agreement signed by the bank and the Uzbek industrial construction bank, Uzpromstroybank, a German firm, Pabauten, will deliver and fit the factory out with equipment worth more than DM 58m.

The plant will take 17 months to build. Once completed the plant will operate with an annual production capacity of 9,400 tonnes of technical glass fibre.

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The non-state sector of the economy accounted for 70.3 per cent of the total GDP and produced 60.1 per cent of industrial products, 99 per cent of agricultural products and performed 80.5 per cent of all construction work. The non-state sector accounts for 96.7 per cent of retail turnover and 56.1 per cent of paid services provided to the population. Foreign investments account for 22.7 per cent of the total volume of capital investment (106.4bn som).

In the course of the first nine months of 2000, 189 enterprises were privatized. The proceeds from privatization increased twofold and totalled some 11bn som.

As of 1st October Uzbekistan had 178,000 small and medium-sized businesses and microcompanies (90 per cent of all registered enterprises), which is 11.4 per cent more than on 1st October 1999.

Uzbekistan's foreign trade surplus over the first nine months of this year reached 51.4m dollars and foreign trade turnover - 4,458m dollars, with export being 2,255m dollars and import - 2,203m dollars. The official exchange rate on 24th November was 313.99 som to the dollar.

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Experts of the criminal investigation department have uncovered many similar cases this year. To put it more precisely, they have dealt with 448 cases of the sale and possession of narcotics, setting up drug dens, smuggling and illegal growing of narcotic plants, in 41 of which cases criminal proceedings have been instituted; 524 people have been detained over drug-related crimes; and 272 kg of narcotics have been confiscated from drug traffickers, the head of the criminal investigation department of the Region, Islom Shavqiyev, said.

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