he ex-Soviet Central Asian country of Uzbekistan will close its airports shortly before the New Year because of Y2K computer bug concerns under a government order published on Wednesday. The airports will close from 10 p.m. (1700 GMT) on December 31 to noon (0700 GMT) on January 1. Domestic aircraft will be grounded but foreign aircraft transiting through Uzbek airspace will not be affected by the order, although they will not be allowed to make scheduled landings.

The Y2K computer bug is expected to affect older computers that allot only two digits for the year in dates, meaning they may read 2000 as 1900 and cause system failures. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has helped Uzbekistan prepare for the Y2K bug, but the government said it decided to issue the order to help guarantee safety. Last week Ukraine, another former Soviet republic, said it would ask foreign aircraft not to fly over its territory for the couple of hours around midnight on December 31 and that it was considering suspending train service for the key period.

zbekistan will suspend the agreement on mutual recognition of visas issued by CIS member countries starting from 1st January 2000, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said today. Any foreign citizen or stateless person having the visa of a CIS country and going there through Uzbekistan will also have to obtain Uzbekistan's transit visa, the spokesman told ITAR-TASS. The decision is taken due to numerous law violations committed by people who enter Uzbekistan with visas of other CIS countries, the spokesman went on. They also frequently attempt to enter the country with purposes other than transit, he added.

TWO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES CONTINUE ELECTION CAMPAIGN

The incumbent president, Islam Karimov, nominated by the Fidokorlar National Democratic Party for the presidential post in the elections to be held on 9th January 2000, met voters in Bukhara on 15th December, the Uzbek television reported the same day. The television reported the following day that Karimov had met voters in Bukhara Region and visited some facilities that day. Karimov's rival, Abdulhafiz Jalolov, nominated by the People's Democratic Party, met voters in Gulistan, the administrative centre of Syrdarya Region, on 14th December, the television reported the same day.

SECOND ROUND OF PARLIAMENTARY POLLS ON 19TH DECEMBER

The second round of voting in 66 electoral districts was held on 19th December, Uzbek TV reported the same day. As at 1300 gmt, turnout was 83 per cent, the television said, quoting the Central Electoral Commission press service.

JAPAN EARMARKS CREDIT TO UPGRADE THREE AIRPORTS

The Japanese government has earmarked a 2.87bn-yen credit for the second stage of upgrading three airports in Samarkand, Bukhara and Urgench, the Uzbek cabinet's press service told the Russian Interfax news agency on 15th December.

UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS INCREASES BOEING FLEET WITH PURCHASE OF BOEING-757

Uzbekistan Airways national air company has recently purchased its fifth Boeing-757, Uzbek TV reported on 13th December. In keeping with established tradition the new aircraft was named after the ancient town of Shahrisabz, in Kashkdarya Region, the television said.

CIS AIRCRAFT SAFETY MEETING HELD IN CAPITAL

Air companies from CIS countries have held a meeting in Tashkent, under the auspices of the Interstate Aircraft Committee, 'Vecherniy Bishkek' reported on 13th December. In particular, pre-flight inspections of aircraft, and the training of safety specialists, were discussed. The meeting also decided to carry out demonstration exercises on procedures to follow if an aircraft is hijacked.

UZBEKISTAN GETS US MEDICAL AID WORTH 5M DOLLARS

Humanitarian cargo worth 5m dollars from the US Americares foundation arrived in Uzbekistan on 14th December, Uzbek TV reported the same day. The cargo mainly consists of medicines, the television said.

NEW AMBASSADOR TO BRITAIN APPOINTED

By presidential decree Alisher Fayzullayev was appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Uzbekistan to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 'Narodnoye Slovo' reported on 14th December.

BANKS WORKING ON 31ST DECEMBER TO DEAL WITH Y2K PROBLEMS

The Central Bank announced on 16th December that 31st December would be a working day for banks to prevent any problems with bank computer systems during the changover to 2000, Uzbek TV reported the same day. No transactions will be carried out, all customer payments and other internal transactions will be finished by 2000 hours on 30th December 1999.

UZBEKS INTRODUCE BAIL

The practice of bail is being applied in many cases during criminal investigations, depending upon the personality of defendants and the social danger of the crimes under investigation, Uzbek TV reported on 15th December. A meeting of the coordination council of the law enforcement agencies also heard that 4,500 convicts have so far been released from prison following the removal of sanctions and reduction of terms of imprisonment in a number of articles of the Criminal Code, the report said.

STAKES IN SOME ENTERPRISES TO BE SOLD TO FOREIGN INVESTORS IN 2000-2001

The Cabinet of Ministers has passed a resolution on measures to involve foreign investors to in the denationalization and privatization of enterprises in 2000-2001, 'Narodnoye Slovo' newspaper reported on 16th December. The resolution approved a list of enterprises in which some of the shares are to be sold by tender to foreign investors: the first group includes 27 joint-stock companies operating in various sectors of the national economy in which between 25 and 51 per cent holdings will be offered for sale; the second group is 113 joint-stock companies operating in industry, agriculture and in the service sector in which 25- 95 per cent of shares will be offered; and the third is a group of 22 facilities including hotels and petrol stations. The state will retain 51 per cent of shares in a number of major enterprises including the Tashkent Chkalov aircraft works and the Almalyk mining combine, the newspaper added.

NEW RAILWAY SECTOR OPENED IN NORTH EAST

A 115-km sector of the Navoi-Uchkuduk-Sultanuzdag-Nukus railway was commissioned on 16th December, Uzbek TV reported the same day. This sector will link Khorezm Region with Karakalpakstan, the television said.

POLICE DESTROY 2.5 TONNES OF NARCOTICS

Police in Tashkent have destroyed 2.5 tonnes of drugs which were seized by police in 1999, Uzbek TV reported on 15th December. A regional UN representative, speaking on the television, criticized the communication between the law enforcement bodies of certain Central Asian countries - both with each other and with Europe and North America, the television said. The threat of drug trafficking still remains serious and the danger comes above all from Tajikistan and Afghanistan, the report said, adding that according to experts, drug producing laboratories in Afghanistan will be working at full capacity in 2000, which is why attempts to traffic drugs through Uzbekistan will not lessen.

POLICE SEIZE OVER 4KG OF HEROIN

Police in Denau District of Surkhandarya Region detained a KAMAZ lorry contianing 4.17kg of heroin hidden amongst 630 boxes of persimmons, Uzbek TV reported on 14th December.

AUTHORITIES INTERCEPT LARGE OPIUM SHIPMENT

An international gang of eight drug couriers has been detained in Uzbekistan, the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency reported on 15th December. The chief of the National Security Service public relations office told the agency that 114 kg of opium bound for northern Russia had been confiscated from the gang.

CENTRAL ASIAN ANTELOPE BEING POACHED TO EXTINCTION

There are now only 40,000-50,000 saiga, Central Asian antelope, left on the Ustyurt plateau in the northeast, Uzbek TV reported on 13th December, compared with 120,000-220,000 before "mass destruction" began from "trigger-happy hunters" in the Soviet period. The report advocated rational exploitation of the saiga for meat and horn, but said that poachers were "mercilessly killing" the saiga for their horns.

he Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan has passed a resolution on measures to involve foreign investors in the denationalization and privatization of enterprises in 2000-2001. It approved a list of enterprises in which some of the shares are to be sold by tender to foreign investors under individual projects in 2000-2001. The list includes 27 joint-stock companies operating in various sectors of the national economy. The stake to be sold to foreign partners varies from 25 to 51 per cent. A controlling package of shares will be sold in 10 enterprises, including the Navoiazot [Navoi nitrogen] production association, Uzbek Heat Resistant and Refractory Materials Plant, Samarkand chemical plant, Ammofos [ammonium phosphate] production association. At the same time, the state will hold 51 per cent of shares in a number of major enterprises, such as the Tashkent Chkalov Aviation Production Association state joint-stock company, Almalyk mining metallurgical combine, Uzbek Agricultural Machinery holding company, Uzbek Construction Materials joint-stock company and some others.

In accordance with the appendix to the government resolution, 113 joint-stock companies operating in various sectors of industry, agriculture and in the service sector have been put into another group: a portion of the package of shares in these companies will be sold to foreign investors on the stock exchange or other securities markets. The number of shares to be sold to foreign investors in these companies varies from 25 to 95 per cent. In the interests of strategic partners, the State Property Committee has the right to review the size of the package of shares put up for sale, including those involving any additional share issues, exchange or partial redemption of placed shares.

The third group includes 22 facilities to be sold in 2001 to foreign investors. They include the Kinap [Cinema equipment, plant in Samarkand] production association, Meliostroymash [irrigation construction machinery], Relay and Automation, Elektromash production association of Uzbekistan, Tashkentbroyler [Tashkent broiler chicken] joint-stock company, the Zarafshan and Rossiya hotels, petrol stations, Samarkand tea packing factory and others.

The value of the property and enterprises is set in freely convertible currency. In order to achieve the set gaols, Uzbekistan's State Property Committee is bringing in prestigious and internationally-experience valuation companies, auditors, consultancy and finance agents. A business plan for development and technical refitting of the plant is an obligatory condition of the sale, which will be conducted exclusively by tender or investment bids.

When selling off state property to foreign investors, the state commission conducting the tenders has been granted by the government the right in individual cases to decide to restructure and to defer accumulated debts which enterprises owe to the budget and other organizations. Such a decision, however, may be taken only in respect of enterprises whose output is of strategic importance for the economy. In addition, the State Property Committee is empowered to sell off facilities at an earlier date if they are ready.

oland is to rebuild 14 war cemeteries in Uzbekistan. We are now only waiting for formal approval of the architectural plans by the Uzbek authorities before starting work in the New Year, the Wiadomosci programme has been told by the secretary-general of the Council for the Protection of the Memory of Struggle and Martyrdom.

[Reporter] The remains of 3,000 Polish soldiers from the army of Gen Anders [formed after the 1941 attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union, from Poles imprisoned in the Soviet Union after 1939] lie in these cemeteries. It was made up of amnestied soldiers of September 1939 freed from Soviet labour camps. The unfavourable climate in the Asian Republics and appalling sanitary conditions caused the deaths of almost 13,000 civilians and soldiers. The greatest problem for the Polish side has been caused by the lack of documentation concerning the cemeteries.

[Andrzej Przewoznik, Council for the Protection of the Memory of Struggle and Martyrdom] This was, above all, a matter of carrying out visits on the spot so as to confirm what we have got at the moment. In practice, this was a case of rediscovering these cemeteries, since in most cases they were almost completely destroyed during the times of the Soviet Union.

[Reporter] The Council for the Protection of the Memory of Struggle and Martyrdom has been working on a programme for the reconstruction of war cemeteries along the whole route taken by Polish refugees [in the east], from Asia, through Africa and India. (Polish TV)

xecutive Secretary of the CIS Yuriy Yarov, who arrived in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, from Turkmenia on Friday [17th December], met with Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov. Yarov familiarized the foreign minister with the work done in preparation for the CIS summit to be held in Moscow in the beginning of the new year. During their conversation, the sides discussed the date and the venue where the Commonwealth bodies are to meet. He proposed that CIS summits be held not only in Moscow but, from 2000, in other capitals of the Commonwealth member-countries by turn. They also examined issues related to regulating the work of the Commonwealth bodies. After that, Yarov left for the capital of Kyrgyzstan.