| April 10-April 17, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Transcript of Uzbek President's remarks on situation in Kosovo | (Excerpts) |
|  hen Russia makes such a fuss on Yugoslavia, there is such an impression that strikes are being made not at Yugoslavia, but at Russia...Russia is in a tense situation. "So-called" Russian politicians, like Zhirinovskiy, and not intelligent politicians, have influenced people's minds. President Yeltsin's statement that he wouldn't allow Russia to be involved in the Balkan problem is the Russian president's balanced and sensible decision and I respect him for this...There are hundreds of nationalities in Russia, including 20 million Muslims. What do Russian politicians think about when they heighten the situation around forming a Slavic Union? What will Tataria, Bashkiria, the North Caucausus say about this? Does anyone think about this?.. Even less informed person will understand that Mr. Milosevic is playing his own game when they want to create a Union of Russia, Belarus and Yugoslavia. Milosevic wants to draw Russia into the war in the Balkans. It was in 1870 when Russia fought against Turkey in the Balkans. It was in the WW1 when Serbs skillfully drew Russia into the war. It was at the start of the WW2, when again skillfully Russian was drawn into a war. Your [Russian} smart and intelligent historians draw a parallel of these events and aren't you wise enough to understand that you should handle these issues in a balanced way and not create some kind of conflicts that are mostly based on inter-ethnic and religious matters. We are against the air strikes, we are against of bombs being aimed at peaceful facilities in Yugoslavia. We are for the peaceful resolution of these issues... When CIS leaders met in Moscow, Mr. Lukashenko [Belarus President] tried to push forward his declaration "condemning NATO for their air strikes against Yugoslavia". We, ten state leaders, said that we didn't like such a resolution. Of course, if our level of thinking was equal to Mr. Lukashenko's, we would have found ourselves in a different situation a long time ago. In that case we were wise enough to say that we don't want air strikes and we call the sides for negotiations. And we think that Milosevic's position is not constructive at all. Who abolished Kosovo's autonomy in 1989?.. Who started a war against Croats? Who started a war against Bosnian Muslims? Who started a genocide against Kosovar Muslims in January of 1998? Shevardnadze [Georgian President] was right lately to say that a long-time genocide that had taken place in Kosovo had to explode someday. And it did explode. And we shouldn't blame just NATO. In the first place Milosevic is to be blamed for his non-constructive position... In Oslo they [Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and U.S. Secretary of State Madlein Albright] tried to agree on deploying UN troops and not NATO troops. But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia makes a statement that they "would not allow foreign troops on the territory of Yugoslavia." What foreign troops are they if they are under the UN flag? He [Milosevic] refuses even on this. And if Russia hadn't supported Yugoslavia unilaterally like now, may be Mr. Milosevic would have been wise enough not to put his people at risk of military actions and would have begun negotiations sooner. I am very sorry that Russian TV and print media took absolutely unilateral position on the very first day of the bombings. Look what happened around the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. People threw rotten eggs and something else. What is it - the display of democracy? They brought CSKA and Spartak's [Russian soccer clubs] fans in bus to the U.S. Embassy to have them curse Americans. What do Americans have to do with this? They function according to the international agreement. They are in Moscow only because there is a Russian embassy in Washington. Who gave the right to bring these fans?.. But this is a hysterics... May God give strength to Yeltsin who is holding the strikes and doesn't allow himself to be involved in a adventurism, in a war not only for the sake of the Balkans, but for the sake of the whole world as well. (April 14, 1999)
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New law to support women
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|  resident Islam Karimov signed a law on additional privileges for women. The law says that women can now go to pension at 54 instead of 55 before. Anually 77 thousand women can take the advantage of this law. This will require the government to allocate 3.5 mln. soums (1 U.S. dollar~115 soums). Also the new law allows women, who have children under three and who work for government subsidized organizations, to work only 35 hours per week but get paid for the full week. 272 thousand women are eligible for this today. It will cost the government 3.8 mln. soums. 1999 in Uzbekistan has been designated as the Year of Women.
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Uzbek Parliament adopts 21 bills
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|  n April 14 and 15 the Uzbek parliament - the Oliy Majlis, commenced its two-day meeting to discuss and adopt 21 bills concerning various sectors in Uzbekistan. The session focused mainly on analyzing the achievements of the country during the past eight years of independence and highlighted the priorities for the forthcoming years. The session began with Islam Karimov's speech, which consisted of the objectives for the beginning of the new millennium. First President Karimov spoke about the terrorist bombings, that had shocked the Uzbek capital in mid February and caused the deaths of dozens of innocent people. Mr. Karimov alleged that radicals were responsible for organizing the bombings, the main goal of whom was to assassinate the President and take over the power in Uzbekistan. "These radicals", said President Karimov, "use the pure Islamic religion to achieve their dishonest goals. For this purpose, they manipulate our young and inexperienced people, and as a result, our main priority is to protect our younger generation from the influence of such criminals." Then Islam Karimov spoke on the "priorities" of the development strategy and reform for the first years of the new century. It turned out that the first and the most important priority was the liberalization in the political, social and economic sectors. Other priorities include reforming educational system, social protection of the population, and ensuring peace and stability in the country. Islam Karimov said that it's important to give more freedom of action to political parties, the public and non-governmental organizations and the mass media. Islam Karimov accused the media for failing to correspond to the demands of a free and independent media. There are 490 newspapers and 138 magazines in Uzbekistan today. Islam Karimov highlighted the role of the small and medium sized business in the domestic economy. "We need to double the number of such companies in the following two-three years," said the president, "and their contribution to GDP should be no less than 25%." Islam Karimov also promised that from the year 2000 the national currency - soum will be fully convertible. The President also suggested that the minimum wages should be increased by 3.5 times within the next five years. Afterwards the deputies began considering drafts. The first bill discussed by the legislators dealt with private businesses and guaranties for businessmen. During the two day session lawmakers also discussed and adopted bills on leasing, on local self-governing bodies, additional privileges for women, a law on non-governmental and non-commercial organizations and others.
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Turkic summit to take place in Baku in June
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|  he sixth regular summit of the heads of
Turkic-speaking countries is due to be held in Azerbaijan's capital on June 14.
Azerbaijan's President Geidar Aliyev said in a statement circulated here on
Tuesday that the leaders of Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and
Turkmenistan have agreed with the date which coincides with the 1300th
anniversary of "Kitabi-Dede Gorgut," an Azerbaijani medieval epic poem.
The poem is considered to be a national heritage by all the six Turkic-speaking
nations.
The first summit, held in Ankara, Turkey, in 1992 was followed by meetings in
Istanbul (Turkey), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Astana
(Kazakhstan). Some joint cooperation projects discussed during those summits
have already been partially implemented, including the construction of new
transportation and communication lines linking Europe and Asia.
A major transportation route Europe-Asia has been operating since 1996 with a
strong support from the European Union. It runs through the territories of
Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and the Turkic-speaking countries of Central Asia.
Another transportation corridor Aktau/Kazakhstan/-Baku-Batumi was launched
in spring 1997 to supply oil from the Tengiz deposit in Kazakhstan to the world
markets. The two projects had been worked out specially to restore the Great
Silk Way which in the old days used to connect the medievalcountries of Central
and Southern Europe with China.
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Afghan Taleban in Uzbekistan to discuss electricity
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|  Taleban delegtion has arrived in Uzbekistan to discuss
the resumption of electricity to the northern Afghan city
of Mazar-i-Sharif and trade matters.
The delegation, led by two senior Taleban officials and
an official from Mazar-i-Sharif , crossed the border at
Hayraton, which has been closed to cross-border traffic
since the Taleban captured Mazar-i-Sharif last year.
Uzbekistan has cut its electricity supplies to the city
over the non-payment of bills.
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Chinese President accepts credentials from new ambassadors
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|  hinese President Jiang Zemin accepted
credentials from four new ambassadors to China here this morning.
The four ambassadors are Ioan Donca from Romania, Ismatilla Irgashev from
Uzbekistan, Hopelong Uushona Ipinge from Namibia and Saviour F. Borg from
Malta. They arrived in Beijing on March 20, 24, 29 and April 8, respectively.
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Uzbek leader urges political and economic reform
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|  zbek President Islam Karimov broke the
habit of his time in power on Wednesday by backing decisive steps to push
forward political and economic reforms.
Karimov's unusually liberal statements contrasted with the tight grip he has kept
on the former Soviet central Asian state since becoming president in 1992.
"We have to work out a programme of reforming political institutions which
would protect human rights," he told the country's parliament.
Karimov said Uzbekistan needed to boost cooperation with the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe on developing non-government
organisations and the mass media.
"Secondly, we must continue working on joining international treaties on human
rights protection," he added.
Karimov said it was necessary to develop a mechanism to make sure that
already-signed human rights treaties were implemented.
Karimov's rule has brought stability to the country since it left the Soviet Union in
1991 but human rights groups criticise him for being too authoritarian.
The International Monetary Fund has also said that economic reforms have gone
too slowly, with strict foreign exchange limits and a gradualist approach to
liberalisation, a subject Karimov touched upon.
"We should thoroughly reconsider the whole system of the organisation of
foreign trade," he said.
"I think there is too much regulation. Administrative, rather than economic, tariff
measures dominate there."
"We must liberalise the foreign exchange market, widening operations outside of
the exchange, boost the role and the responsibility of commerical banks and
provide, starting from 2000, national currency convertibility on current
operations."
Karimov said the development of the banking and the financial sectors, access to
credits for businesses and anti-monopoly laws were outdated.
He also promised to cut government controls over the private sector of the
economy.
The foreign exchange controls mean that Uzbekistan is still one of the few CIS
countries with a flourishing currency black market, where the rate of the som
currency is far lower than the official rate of 115 to the dollar.
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Uzbekistan security threatened
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| here is a real threat to Uzbekistan's
security at present, Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan's president, said. Certain forces
wish to destroy the foundation on which Uzbekistan's prosperity, peace and
stability and its striving to integrate into the world community are based.
President Karimov said this in his report at a regular session of parliament that
opened here on Wednesday. In the report that lasted for two hours he dwelt on
Uzbekistan's political, economic and social situation.
"Certain forces outside Uzbekistan wish us to abandon the secular road," the
report says. "Our independent development goes against the grain with them.
The enemies of stability and peace in Uzbekistan are using Islam as a
camouflage, trying to mislead young people, seeking to interfere with our
construction of a new democratic civilised state". For this purpose Uzbekistan's
enemies wish to use every means, including terrorist acts and attempts to
eliminate the head of state. But it is too late now as the Uzbek people are not to
be intimidated," the report says.
Regarding plans to reduce the Uzbek army, Karimov said that it will be of
"optimum numerical strength" and will be a professional army. The funds thus
saved will be used for raising salaries of the military and giving social support to
their families.
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Karimov backs withdrawal from visa-less regime in CIS
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| zbek President Islam Karimov
supports a decision made by his Turkmen counterpart Saparmurad Niyazov
on withdrawal from the Bishkek convention on a visa-less regime in the
CIS.
The visa-less regime should be abandoned to enhance CIS security,
Karimov said at the Ashgabat airport.
Furthermore, CIS countries must become more independent
economically, he said.
Niyazov reaffirmed adherence to "fraternal cooperation within the
CIS, although not at the expense of other countries."
At the upcoming Central Asian summit, "we must discuss several
issues which require coordination of the neighboring countries on the
threshold of the 21st century for attaining guarantees of regional peace
and stability," Niyazov said.
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Tajik Premier in Uzbek capital for cooperation talks
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| government delegation from the Republic of Tajikistan headed
by that country's prime minister, Yahyo Azimov, arrived in
Uzbekistan on a working visit today [13th April]. On the same
day Prime Minister Otkir Sultonov of the Republic of Uzbekistan
held talks with Prime Minister Yahyo Azimov of the Republic of
Tajikistan on strengthening cooperation between the two
countries. This visit is taking place in accordance with an
agreement on developing friendly relations between the two
countries reached by Presidents Islam Karimov [of Uzbekistan]
and Emomali Rahmonov [of Tajikistan] during the Ashkhabad
meeting of the heads of state of the Central Asian states and
Kazakhstan earlier this month [8th-9th April]. Prime Minister
of Tajikistan Yahyo Azimov is accompanied by the republic's
foreign minister, Talbak Nazarov, a deputy prime minister,
Ismat Eshmirzoyev, and the heads of various ministries and
departments from that country. It is expected that a package of
documents will be signed at the end of the talks.
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