Uzbekistan, UN to keep enhancing extensive cooperation

On April 26, Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres at the Beijing residence designated for the Uzbek President.

The head of our state kindly greeted the Secretary-General and noted that he recalls with particular warmth the meaningful conversations in Samarkand and New York, which helped strengthen Uzbekistan’s partnership with UN institutions and agencies. Shavkat Mirziyoyev thanked António Guterres for personal support of conferences on Central Asia in Samarkand and on Afghanistan in Tashkent, the Asian Forum on Human Rights in Samarkand and other events.

The President of Uzbekistan expressed his full support for the initiatives and efforts of the Secretary-General on reforming the United Nations, ensuring international security and stability as well as sustainable development. Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted that these transformations will actively facilitate the irreversible reforms in Uzbekistan as part of the implementation of the national Development Strategy.

António Guterres stressed that he was glad to have a new meeting with the President of our country. According to him, Uzbekistan’s initiatives are significant in boosting international and regional security, furthering the education, spirituality, ecology, tourism and other spheres.

Uzbekistan is strongly committed to building up the relations of trust and good neighborliness, to enhancing the mutually advantageous cooperation with the countries of the region. Solutions were found for the most sensitive issues, and the relations with all neighbors are brought to a qualitatively new level. Over the past two years, trade with adjacent nations has almost doubled.

International recognition of Uzbekistan’s efforts was manifest by the adoption by the UN General Assembly of historic resolutions on Central Asia and on education and religious tolerance. Uzbekistan is promoting another initiative – the preparation and adoption of an international convention on youth rights.

Thanks to support from Secretary-General António Guterres, a Multi-Partner Trust Fund for the Aral Region has been set up under the auspices of the UN. Projects have been devised and implemented in this region for over 3 billion US dollars.

António Guterres highly appreciated the measures taken in Uzbekistan to improve living conditions in the Aral area, to build modern housing, social and industrial infrastructure in the region, as well as to reduce the overall negative effects of the Aral disaster. Thus, for five months, protective plantations were organized there on more than 500 thousand hectares of the dried bоttom of the Aral Sea, and on 1.1 million hectares of sand accumulation grooves were created.

It was noted at the meeting that following the international conference on the development of environmental innovations and technologies in the Aral region due October this year, Uzbekistan intends to initiate a special resolution of the UN General Assembly on declaring this region the Zone of Environmental Innovations and Technologies.

In addition, Tashkent will host an international conference in 2020 on the implementation of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

It was stressed that the key to ensuring stability in the region is the soonest peaceful settlement of the situation in Afghanistan. Uzbekistan has actively been engaging Afghanistan in regional economic cooperation, promoting joint trade, infrastructure and social projects.

António Guterres reiterated his willingness to provide all the necessary backing for furthering the full-scale cooperation with Uzbekistan.

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