| February 27-March 6, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Greek President says his Uzbek visit was successful | |
"The meetings and talks in Tashkent were
successful. I am leaving Uzbekistan with the feelings of satisfaction and hope for
the better," Greek President Constantinos Stephanopoulos said as he was
leaving Tashkent after a three-day visit.
During the visit, the Greek leader met Uzbek President Islam Karimov to discuss
bilateral relations and contacts within the United Nations, the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe and other international organisations.
He noted that Greece and Uzbekistan will actively cooperate to ensure regional
stability, fight terrorism, arms smuggling and crime, proliferation of religious
extremism and nuclear weapons.
The two sides signed a consular convention, an agreement on international
passenger and cargo transportation, an agreement on cooperation between the
national banks of the two countries, a 30-million U.S. dollar loan agreement and
a document under which Greece will give Uzbekistan 30 million U.S. dollars to
support small and medium-sized businesses.
The talks in Tashkent touched on prospects for bilateral cooperation in such
fields as agriculture, culture, tourism and transportation, as well as on the use of
the Greek sea ports by Uzbekistan.
The bilateral documents signed during the visit will "undoubtedly work in the
interests of our countries, in the interests of the Uzbek and Greek peoples and
will yield very good results very soon," Karimov said.
Stephanopoulos also met representatives of the more than 10,000 member
Greek community which has been living in Uzbekistan for 40 years.
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CIS Executive Secretary arrives in Tashkent | |
CIS Executive Secretary Boris
Berezovsky arrived in Tashkent on Thursday, a source in the Uzbek Foreign
Ministry told Itar-Tass.
The source said that Berezovsky was expected to meet Uzbek President Islam
Karimov to discuss the CIS reform.
During the conversation, Karimov and Berezovsky are due to consider the tragic
events occurred in Tashkent on February 16 and regional security.
On the results of the meeting, the two men will not hold a joint press conference.
The meeting will be held behind closed doors.
The ministry source said that Berezovsky will leave for Azerbaijan after the
meeting with Karimov.
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Turkish police detain Tashkent bomb suspect | |
Turkish authorities have detained a man they
suspect of involvement in a series of bomb attacks in the Uzbek capital Tashkent
last month, Anatolian news agency said on Wednesday.
It said Turkish and Uzbek intelligence had worked together in the capture of the
man, named as Rustem Manuotkulov, as he arrived at Istanbul airport.
He was being questioned by police. It did not say where he had arrived from or on
what day he travelled.
The blasts ripped through central Tashkent on February 16 in what Uzbek
President Islam Karimov said was an attempt by Islamic extremists to assassinate
him.
Human rights groups said Uzbek authorities jailed more than 500 people in the
wake of the explosions.
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No danger of Islamic fanaticism in Uzbekistan, says President | |
President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan
said on Tuesday there is no danger of Islamic fanaticism in his country.
"Islamic fanaticism, political extremism has always been and will be inadmissible
in Uzbekistan," Karimov said during his meeting with visiting Greek President
Constantinos Stephanopoulos. Uzbekistan "is building a secular, civilized and
democratic state, and no one will make us stray off this path."
According to Karimov, 80 percent of the republic's population are Moslems, but
Islam professed in Uzbekistan "has nothing to do with fanatic Islam that is
sowing the seeds of disarray and destruction, or shedding the blood of innocent
people."
The Uzbekistan president expressed confidence that the world community will
be able to do away with fanaticism and extremism.
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Tajikistan, Uzbekistan concerned with power line accident
| | A fall of two supports and a
damage of one support of a power line in the Tursunzade region of Tajikistan
has made the Barki Todzhik energy company to limit the electricity supply
throughout the Central Asian republic on coordination with the cabinet, company
leader Bakhrom Sirozhev told Itar-Tass.
The accident which occurred 11-12 kilometers away from the Tajik-Uzbek
border will halve the production of the Tajik aluminum plant and halt several
enterprises, he noted.
Uzbekistan which is legally responsible for the power line is also concerned with
the accident. The power line connects southern Tajikistan to the unified energy
system of the Central Asia via territory of the neighbour-country. In
February-April when hydraulic resources are limited Tajikistan receives up to
600 million kilowatt/hours of electricity from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and
Kyrgyzstan, and in summer the electricity is supplied by Tajikistan to the three
states.
A bilateral commission of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan was formed to settle the
problem. The commission will supervise the work of repair teams and provide
them with machinery and materials. Secret services of Tajikistan will investigate
into reasons for the accident.
In the words of Sirozhev, there have never been such accidents in the power
line. It will take at least two weeks to repair the damage, and the situation is
aggravated by the scarce water reserve in the water pond of the Nurekskaya
hydro-power plant. |
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Uzbekistan to mark May 9 as national holiday | |
Uzbekistan will mark May 9, which was
the Victory Day in the former Soviet Union as the Day of Memory and Honours.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov decreed on Wednesday that May 9 is a
national holiday.
Veterans who contributed to victory over Nazism in World War two and who
gave their life for the Motherland's freedom and independence must never be
forgotten, they all must receive honours they deserve, the decree said.
In order to commemorate the fallen, Uzbek capital Tashkent will build Memorial
Square in the centre of the city. The complex, due to be finished by May 9,
2000, will include a memorial wall, with names of 300,000 Uzbeks who died in
World War II craved on it.
| | | Uzbek president announces progress in blasts' investigation | | There is certain progress in the investigation into the recent terrorist acts in Tashkent, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said at a news conference on Tuesday. The news conference summed up results of the official part of the Uzbek visit of Greek President Constantinos Stephanopoulos. The president refused to give details of the investigation but said "the terrorist acts which claimed human lives were committed by religious fanatics." There is no doubt the crime will be solved and the people will learn the truth, he noted. |
| | Uzbek copper plant tender deadline put off again | | Uzbekistan has delayed the deadline for bids in its key copper plant tender by two weeks due to the slump in world prices for the metal, a spokesman for the State Property Committee said on Tuesday. He told Reuters by telephone from the Uzbek capital Tashkent that the bids for a 46.5 percent stake in the major copper and zinc Almalyk Metallurgical Plant not far from the capital would be accepted until March 15 instead of March 1. The deadline was originally scheduled for January 15. Its success is key to the ex-Soviet state's ambitious privatisation programme. The sale of the Almalyk stake was expected to bring in $478 million to state coffers. The privatisation official said that all other stages of the tender process had also been delayed by two weeks. Tender proposals would be accepted until May 15 under the new schedule, and the decision on the results of the sale would be taken on July 1 instead of June 15. The plant produced around 90,000 tonnes of refined copper in 1998, down from the 116,000 tonnes in 1997. Zinc output was more stable at 52,000 tonnes last year from 53,000 tonnes the year before. |
| | Greek president arrives in Uzbekistan on visit | | March 1 - Greek President Constantinos Stephanopoulos arrives in Uzbekistan on a three-day official visit on Monday evening. On Tuesday morning, he will hold one- hour talks with Uzbek President Islam Karimov tete-a-tete. Then, the talks will be continued in a broader format. The sides plan to sign several bilateral documents during the visit, including an agreement on international carriage of passengers and goods by road transport, and a consular convention. On Wednesday, Stephanopoulos will visit Bukhara and Samarkand, where he will inspect works of Oriental architecture. The Greek president is expected to fly home from Samarkand.
| | | Power transmission line damaged in Tajikistan | | The power transmission line linking Tajikistan's and Uzbekistan's power grids has been deliberately put out of order. Unidentified persons removed angle pieces from two power transmission line supports in the area of Tajikistan's Tursun-Zade district bordering on Uzbekistan, Tass learnt on Tuesday form the authorities of Barki Tojik (Light of Tajikistan) state joint-stock company. The company's spokesman said this is not the first case when power transmission lines are deliberately damaged. "Such occurrences are always extremely unpleasant," he said. Precisely this power transmission line is used for energy exchange between the two neighbouring Central Asian republics. In January 1999 alone Tajikistan exported to Uzbekistan 202 million kilowatt-hours of electricity to a sum of 5.1 million dollars, while importing 214 million kilowatt-hours of electricity worth 5.3 million dollars. The power transmission line has a particular importance for Tajikistan in the winter-spring period when there is a shortage of electricity in Tajikistan, which affects the functioning of industrial enterprises, above all, energy-consuming Tajik aluminium plant. The incident is to be investigated by a commission including representatives of Tajik law enforcement bodies. | E-mail me on: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||