| April 3-April 10, 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Uzbekistan names new agriculture minister
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|  zbekistan named Deputy Prime Minister
Bakhtier Alimdzhanov as its new agriculture minister on Tuesday, putting him in
charge of the dominant sector of the Central Asian state's economy.
A presidential decree said he would retain his position as deputy prime minister.
Alimdzhanov replaces Islam Babadzhanov, who was recently made head of
adminstration in the Khorezm region in the west of the mostly desert state.
Alimdzhanov was made deputy prime minister in charge of agriculture last
autumn. Earlier he was head of a company supplying equipment to the
agricultural sector.
Uzbekistan is a major cotton producer and exports of the key cash crop account
for nearly 40 percent of the country's total export earnings.
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Oliy Majlis to hold next session
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|  he Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan will hold its 14th session on April 14 in Tashkent.
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President Karimov visits Ashgabat
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| ransportation and energy projects will
become priority directions in cooperation among Central Asian states in the XXI
century.
This was stressed on Friday by the presidents of the five states of the region in
their statements at the sixth session of the Interstate Council on problems of the
Aral Sea, which ended its work here on Friday.
Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the joint
Declaration signed in Ashkhabad says, will focus their attention on the
elaboration and the further effective operation of the Transcaucasian and
Eurasian transport corridors. It is also planned to work out a coordinated tariffs
policy.
The sides agreed to take urgent measures for the implementation of joint
projects of laying oil and gas pipelines, the construction of electric-power
transmission lines for the "transportation of energy resources to world markets."
The document notes that it is necessary to raise to a higher level the development
of gas and oil fields, which meets the strategic interests of the region.
The agenda of the summit of the Central Asian states included issues concerning
the determination of political milestones of cooperation on the threshold of the
XXI century.
Meeting distinguished guests at the Ashkhabad airport on Thursday, President of
Turkmenia Saparmurat Niyazov stated that it was necessary to work out new
non-standard approaches which would ensure to the region and each country
adequate reaction to all challenges of time.
President of Uzbekistan backed Saparmurat Niyazov's proposal on the
introduction of a visa regime stressing that in the light of the recent events in
Tashkent he regarded this issue as one of the most actual matters.
In particular, the orientation towards China will become the main direction for
transportation and gas and oil pipeline projects of both Turkmenistan and
Kazakhstan.
This was stated by president of Turkmenistan in reply to a question by journalists
about the gist of his talks with President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev
held at the Ashkhabad airport immediately after the Kazakh president's arrival.
In the XXI century the Chinese direction will become a priority for both states,
the president of Turkmenistan noted. "And already now we have begun to
discuss the possibilities of joint efforts in this field," he added.
As is known, the projects of the oil pipeline from Kazakhstan and the gas
pipeline from Turkmenistan are orientated towards the Chinese market. The
technical and economic substantiation studies of these projects are under way.
This was the third meeting of the CIS Central Asian heads of state in Ashkhabad
since the time they gained their independence.
Their first summit was held in December 1991, following the Byelovezhye
decisions (Eds: the Ukrainian, Byelorussian and Russian presidents declared the
collapse of the Soviet Union at that meeting).
The second -- in January 1998 when the four high guests made an unsuccessful
attempt to convince Niyazov to join the Central Asian Union of which the four
states were members.
Ashkhabad also hosted the leaders of the Central Asian countries in May 1996
and 1997 when the Turkmen capital was the venue for summits of the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation.
The Central Asian states understood the need for pooling efforts to tackle the
Aral problem in the first years of independence, despite their economic
difficulties.
It is considered virtually impossible to restore the Aral in its former size.
Therefore, the discussion now concernes mostly the ecological revitalisation of
the region.
Participants in the summit also considered various aspects of security and
cooperation in the Central Asian region.
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Presidential decree to open Islamic University
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|  resident of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov signed a decree to establish an Islamic University in Tashkent. The University will function under the auspices of the Cabinet of Ministers and will be aimed at educating highly-qualified theologists. The University will teach the history and philosophy of Islam, religious and secular subjects in cooperation with religious scholars from abroad.
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Central Asian presidents call for peace in Afghanistan
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| he presidents of the five Central Asian
states have called on the conflicting sides in Afghanistan to actively continue the
political settlement process. This statement was made here on Friday during the
summit meeting of the five Central Asian nations, devoted to the problems of the
Aral Sea.
Turkmenian President Saparmurat Niyazov noted that this problem was
thoroughly discussed during the Thursday meeting of the five presidents and
found reflection in the "Joint Statement of the Heads of State of the Republic of
Kazakhstan, the Kirghiz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and
the Republic of Uzbekistan", which was signed on Friday.
It notes that all the five states "deem it most important to contribute to the
establishment of peace and concord in Afghanistan, to get down to the practical
revival of that country".
The Turkmenian president said that the Thursday round of the Ashkhabad
meeting acclaimed the latest efforts of the United Nations, exerted in keeping
with the Ashkhabad process, to switch the Afghan conflict over to the rails of
practical settlement. The heads of state believe it is very important to hold 6+2
consultations with Afghanistan's neighbours and friends. The participants of the
Ashkhabad meeting also welcomed the efforts of other states, including
Uzbekistan's initiative to call a special meeting of the 6+2 group to back up the
concerted U.N. efforts and the good will of the parties to the continuing
inter-Afghan dialogue.
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Canada's Teck Corp quits Uzbek gold project
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|  anada's minining Teck Corp
stopped prospecting gold in Uzbekistan due to low world gold prices,
Alexander Ogarkov, chief geologist at the State Geology and Mineral Resources
Committee told Reuters on Thursday.
But the Canadian corporation was not immediately available for comment as it
had recently closed its office in Tashkent.
Teck Corp and Uzbekistan's government formed a joint venture to prospect
gold in the north of the country in 1996 but failed to discover sufficient deposits
of the precious metal.
According to independent Western experts, the Central Asian republic produces
annually around 80 tonnes of gold, which alongside cotton accounts for the bulk
of its revenues.
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Uzbek leader worried by Russia plan for Tajik base
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| zbekistan's President, Islam Karimov, said
in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat on Friday that he was concerned about
Russian plans to build a military base in Tajikistan.
Relations between Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous country, and
neighbouring Tajikistan have worsened in recent months, and Karimov is
alarmed at the prospect of a permanent Russian armed presence close to his
borders.
"In talks with (Tajik President) Imomali Sharipovich (Rakhmonov) I said once
again that your right, as a sovereign state, is to come to any agreement, including
a military one," told a news briefing.
"But when we are talking about a military base, and when the Russian defence
minister tells Russian television stations about setting up a military base, then a
number of questions arise - Against whom is the base directed? Why is it being
set up?"
Karimov, who rules his mostly desert state of 24 million people with a firm grip,
has traditionally eyed Russia with suspicion. He trusts his Tajik neighbours even
less.
Karimov says he was the target of a series of bomb attacks in the Uzbek capital
Tashkent in February, which he blamed on Islamic extremists, many of whom
trained abroad.
Among those he most fears are ethnic Tajik citizens, who he claims are
undergoing such training in their native land.
The two countries were involved in a public quarrel late last year, when
Uzbekistan firmly denied Tajik claims that it had helped to plot a failed uprising
in northern Tajikistan, where many ethnic Uzbeks live.
"The creation of any military base on anyone's sovereign territory is no good to
either of the sides," Karimov said.
Rakhmonov replied that "Nothing has been signed yet...We are only discussing
this with Russia at the moment." The main purpose of any base that is set up
would be to repel the threat from Afghanistan, he said.
The five Central Asian leaders are in Ashgabat for a two-day summit to discuss
the fate of the Aral Sea, shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the scene of an
environmental and social disaster due to decades of intensive cotton cultivation.
Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev said on a visit to Dushanbe this week
that the military base had been agreed, and that only details remained to be
cleared up.
A final agreement could be reached during Rakhmonov's planned trip to
Moscow later this month, he said.
Russia already has around 20,000 troops in the impoverished state of 5.7
million, more than half along its southern border with Afghanistan and the rest
belonging to a peacekeeping division of around 8,000.
Moscow backs the secular Tajik government and wants to keep the country
stable after a ceasefire ended five years of bloody civil war in 1997.
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