May 23, 2014
Uzbekistan, China Step up Mutually Advantageous Cooperation. 2
To Bolster Trust-Built Relations. 3
Press-service of MFA of the Republic of Uzbekistan
POLICY
Uzbekistan, China Step up Mutually Advantageous Cooperation
As reported earlier, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov has arrived in the People’s Republic of China to take part in the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.
The President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and President of the PRC Xi Jinping met in Shanghai in the residence of the Chinese leader. During the conversation, the two sides highly appraised the current state of relations between our two nations and stressed the importance of such meetings in defining the prospects in the further development of cooperation.
The head of our state underscored the favorable dynamics in the promotion of interaction and expressed sincere gratitude to his Chinese colleague for a warm and cordial reception.
In his turn, the leader of the People’s Republic of China stated his firm commitment to the consolidation of truly strategic partnership between our two nations. Xi Jinping underlined his willingness to keep maintaining close personal dialogue with Uzbekistan’s leader, pushing for even greater achievements in bilateral relations.
China’s leader said he stands for an even closer contact between the two countries in regional and international affairs. Having noted that Uzbekistan is an important nation in the region, Xi Jinping proposed to unite efforts with our country to cement trust among the nations of Asia, promote peace and stability and assist the socio-economic development in the region
It was also pointed out that the first state visit by the current President of the PRC to Uzbekistan in September 2013 became a genuinely historic event in the evolution of bilateral ties, an indication of the consolidating underlying foundations of relations between our two countries and peoples. Following the talks in Tashkent, Islam Karimov and Xi Jinping inked the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation and the Joint Declaration on the Further Development and Enhancement of Bilateral Relations of Strategic Partnership. The documents signed between the two countries included an intergovernmental agreement on technical and economic cooperation as well as a range of documents dedicated to bolstering the interaction in the economic, financial, hydrocarbon and public education spheres.
Currently, the bonds between Uzbekistan and China have been developing across all the areas in the spirit of the Treaty on Partnership Relations of Friendship and Cooperation as well as the Joint Declaration on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership. Interaction covers the whole range of relations and carries a mutually advantageous nature. They are built on personal contacts of the heads of two states that are characterized with reciprocal trust and respect. Regular are the exchanges in visits and meetings at the highest and high levels.
The steadfast rates of growth in the mutual trade deserve positive assessment. Thus, the volume of turnover between our two countries has increased nearly six-fold in the last six years to reach 5.2 billion dollars in 2013
Let us remind that during the visit of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the PRC in June 2012, a package of documents was penned for a total of more than 5.3 billion dollars envisaging the realization of over 30 investment projects.
As part of the September 2013 state visit of the Chinese President to Uzbekistan, 31 documents were signed for the implementation of projects for a total of 15 billion dollars that envision drawing 7.7 billion dollars of financial resources from China, including direct investments of Chinese companies for 1.3 billion dollars, loans of Chinese banks for 6.1 billion dollars and state grants for 0.3 billion dollars.
466 enterprises with the participation of Chinese capital, including 77 enterprises with 100-percent Chinese investments, operate currently in Uzbekistan. 71 companies from the PRC have representative offices accredited in our country.
The investment partnership in non-crude and high-tech spheres has also been evolving dynamically. Signed in 2010 between the governments of Uzbekistan and China, the Cooperation Program serves as bedrock for a fruitful interaction on this front.
Uzbekistan supported the initiative put forward by the Chinese leadership in 2011 to establish a Sino-Uzbek industrial park of high technologies with the involvement of companies from China. In March 2013, that park was established in the form of a special industrial zone Jizzakh with a branch in Sirdarya region. Manufacturing of mobile phones, construction materials and other produce has been already launched in the SIZ in June 2013.
In the current year, the realization of more than 15 joint projects with the attraction of direct investments of Chinese companies for a sum exceeding 50 million dollars is envisaged at the SIZ Jizzakh.
Successful has been the cooperation with the PRC in the fuel and energy complex. The transit of all four stripes of the Central Asia – China natural gas pipeline through the territory of Uzbekistan is indicative of the highest level of mutual trust and close cooperation in the hydrocarbon area.
The China National Petroleum Corporation takes part not only in the exploration and development of promising deposits of oil and gas, but also in the implementation of a project on deep reprocessing of natural gas at the Mubarek Gas Chemical Complex.
An actual strategic issue in the bilateral economic cooperation is the creation of the shortest railway route between our two nations, which will allow for securing an optimal access for the PRC to the countries of Central Asia and further on to those of South Asia. This includes a project to build a railway between Agren (in Tashkent region) and Pap (Namangan region). Its layout with the engagement of Chinese partners was launched in June 2013, when the state railroad stock company Uzbekiston Temir Yullari and the company China Railway Tunnel Group signed a contract for the construction of pass tunnel on the Angren-Pap railway line for a total sum of 455 million dollars.
Active has been the bilateral cooperation in the financial sphere, notably with China Development Bank and the Exim Bank of China. The aggregate portfolio of loans of Chinese financial institutions has exceeded 4.5 billion dollars, including 3.5 billion dollars without the state guarantees.
It is noteworthy that China Development Bank has been taking part in a variety of projects in sectors of energy, transport, telecommunications, healthcare, education and others for a total sum exceeding 3.8 billion dollars
Starting from 2005, funding for 32 projects totaling 1.15 billion dollars has been approved by the Exim Bank of China.
The further development of cultural and humanitarian relations, cooperation in science and technical development, tourism are also priority areas. It is noteworthy that the opening of China’s first Center for Research of Uzbekistan and Education Exchanges at the Public Diplomacy Research Institute at Shanghai University took place in Shanghai on 15 May 2013. Sister city ties have been established between Tashkent and Shanghai, Navoi and Zhuzhou (Hunan province), Tashkent region and Hunan province, Samarkand and Sian (Shensi province), Samarkand region and Shensi province.
The current meeting of the heads of our two states will afford a new impetus to the development of mutually advantageous cooperation and serve the further consolidation of strategic partnership between Uzbekistan and China.
Following a fruitful conversation and exchange of views, the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov visited an official concert of the masters of arts of China to honor the heads of state of the CICA summit at the initiative of President of the PRC Xi Jinping.
The visit of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the People’s Republic of China continues.
(Source: Uza.uz)
To Bolster Trust-Built Relations
As reported earlier, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov has visited the People’s Republic of China to meet with President of the PRC Xi Jinping and take part in the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.
The President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and President of the PRC Xi Jinping held a meeting in the residence of the Chinese leader in the city of Shanghai. During the conversation, the two sides attached a high appraisal to the current state of relations between our two nations and stressed the importance of such meetings in defining the prospects in the further development of cooperation.
The head of our state underscored the favorable dynamics in the promotion of interaction and expressed sincere gratitude to his Chinese colleague for a warm and cordial reception.
In his turn, the leader of the People’s Republic of China stated his firm commitment to the consolidation of truly strategic partnership between our two nations. Xi Jinping underlined his willingness to keep maintaining close personal dialogue with Uzbekistan’s leader, pushing for even greater achievements in bilateral relations.
The head of Chinese state said he stands for an even closer contact between the two countries in regional and international affairs. Having noted that Uzbekistan is an important nation in the region, Xi Jinping proposed to unite efforts with our country to cement trust among the nations of Asia, promote peace and stability and assist the socio-economic development in the region.
Islam Karimov and Xi Jinping discussed in detail a whole range of issues on the bilateral agenda, including the further consolidation of cooperation in the political, trade-economic, cultural-humanitarian and other spheres.
The two heads of state exchanged their visions on the pressing issues of regional and international nature.
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov took part and delivered a speech at the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held in the city of Shanghai.
CICA is an international forum dedicated to the consolidation of cooperation directed at ensuring peace, security and stability in Asia. The Conference currently unites 24 states. Nine countries and four international organizations are observers at CICA.
In his speech, the head of our state noted that there is scarcely any nation, society in the world today that would not express concern at the alarming, unbalanced political and economic developments in the contemporary world, which in its turn cannot but affect the construction of international security. Evaluating the situation currently unfolding in certain regions of the globe, one cannot but recognize the substantial aggravation of destabilizing factors, namely, the threats of use of force and burst of violence. Hardly mitigating have been the threats posed by international terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, interethnic and interreligious enmity.
Islam Karimov drew the attention of summit participants to an important aspect – the issue of trust. According to Uzbekistan’s leader, mutual movement of the conflicting sides toward each other in their aspiration to address the problems arising between them is imperative in the first place for those sides to come to reconciliation. Otherwise, practically all the negotiation processes turn into reciprocal complains and blames addressed to one another, and that this kind of process can last infinitely. This, in its turn, creates so-called frozen conflicts across various regions of the world, the outgrowth and internationalization of which are facilitated to a large extent by external forces pursuing their own far-reaching designs. Nonetheless, however the situation unfolds, the principal reason behind the emergence of a conflict lies in the loss of mutual trust between confronting sides, which ought to be restored and mandatorily cemented.
The head of our state expressed confidence that trust is that critical element and a compulsory condition, without which it is practically impossible to further the goals in any negotiating process dedicated to restoring peace and stability, in solving disputable issues and moving toward mutual understanding and consolidation of international cooperation. However, as expert assessment suggest, mutual confidence in the contemporary world and primarily in international relations is not only failing to grow, but it has been fading.
The essentially unfolding situation today has been revealing these issues among the most pressing ones that require resolution. The major reasons of such a trend taking shape are seen by many analysts in the headlong paces of the changing circumstances and scales of globalization in the modern world, the mounting geopolitical rivalry directed at the control over natural resources and communications, the deepening inequality in the distribution of incomes both within unstable countries and between advanced and developing nations.
According to Islam Karimov, today the ideology of radicalism, international terrorism, militant extremism and drug smuggling are no longer the problems of any one country or region, but they do not distinguish national borders, and first and foremost they are spread among the younger generation. The President of our country emphasized in this regard the absolute inaptness of approaches that link terrorism with the religion of Islam.
Many experts see the reasons of the mounting tension in the declining coordinating role of international supranational institutions of governance, and first of all the single approaches to the strict adherence to major norms of international law. Uzbekistan is convinced that the restoration and consolidation of confidence at the interstate and international level can without any doubt become the most critical foundation, the main barrier to the intensifying confrontational processes in the global space, a reliable instrument in the abolition of enmity among rival centers of power and in flaring up the tension and destabilizing the situation in restless regions of the world.
In this respect, as the head of our state noted, enormous attention and support deserve the proposals that sounded in the speech of the President of the PRC Xi Jinping to elaborate a new concept of security in Asia, prime goals sought from which should be the implementation of such underlying principles as mutual confidence, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation. The most crucial task is perceived to be the overcome of differences in ideology and approaches to the social system, refrain from interfering in internal affairs of other countries. The same support can go to the proposals to steadily boost and consolidate the regional economic cooperation, secure conditions conducive for commercial and investment activities, implement joint major infrastructure projects in the transport-communication and energy sectors, and create modern high-tech production lines and capacities. In the words of the President of our country, such novelties in approaches are rather demanding in the contemporary world.
The leader of Uzbekistan expounded also on his vision of the prospects in the development of the neighboring Afghanistan. Today one may assert with confidence that all the interested parties in addressing the Afghan crisis agree in one thing, namely, that the achievement of peace in Afghanistan does not have a military solution. Islam Karimov reminded in this regard that it was the very notion that Uzbekistan stated far back in April 2008 at the NATO summit in Bucharest.
The single reasonable path is that of the search for political resolution of the problem, the path of peaceful talks and achievement of consensus between various confronting sides, the formation of a government which would be comprised of representatives of major ethnic groups of the country. The head of Uzbekistan expressed hope that the second round of elections of the President of Afghanistan will be held at a proper level, which would allow for opening the road for the long-suffering people of Afghanistan to a peaceful life.
As a nation neighboring Afghanistan, Uzbekistan adheres to the principled policy of non-interference to its internal affairs, the arrangement of cooperation on a bilateral basis, provision of support to a government that will be elected by Afghans themselves.
Our country considers it absolutely counterproductive to place some preliminary conditions before the negotiating parties, conditions that may not only protract the negotiation process, but also return to the escalation of tension and continuation of confrontation, which is not admissible. As far as the withdrawal of ISAF peacekeeping forces from Afghanistan is concerned, the developments in that country has been such as that obviously will require delay in the ultimate time frames of the pulling out of troops that was initially scheduled for late 2014.
The head of our state pointed out that Uzbekistan clearly understands how intricate, intractable issues are faced by the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. Yet it is the very resolution of these challenges can justify all our efforts in improving the relations among states and removing the grounds causing tension and conflicts.
President Islam Karimov expressed conviction that the forthcoming presidency of the People’s Republic of China in the CICA will facilitate the resolution of thorny issues related to ensuring security and stability in the vast space of Asia. Let us remind in this regard that the presidency in the Conference has passed on to the PRC through to the year 2016.
On this occasion, the visit of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the People’s Republic of China came to an end. The meetings of the head of our state with the leader of the PRC will undoubtedly afford a new potent impetus to the trust-built relations between the two leaders and to the development of mutually advantageous fruitful cooperation between our two nations in the spirit of strategic partnership.
(Source: Press service of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan)
museums
A Treasure from the Garden
May has been declared a month of museums in Uzbekistan. Every year hundreds of thousands visitors join historical heritage, including those, who bring antiquities.
Most of them are kept in the National Museum of History of Uzbekistan of the Academy of Science of Uzbekistan, which is the largest storage of artifacts of Uzbekistan.
“Over 270 thousand of artifacts are stored in our museum, these are archaeological, numismatic, ethnographic antiquities, as well as memorial complexes, handwritten books, showing the highest level of a material and spiritual culture development of the people,” says Jannat Ismailova, director of the museum, Doctor of Historical Sciences. “Collection is enriched annually. Museum personnel bring them from expeditions. School boys and girls, as well as officers of different institutions and organizations and residents contribute greatly. Here’s some examples: unique golden coin dated back to the ruling period of Byzantine Emperor Anastasius (5, 6th c.c. A.D.) brought by some Nazarmatov R.B. he found the coin in Tolli Mahalla, Shurchi District of the Surkhondaryo Region 2 to 3 km from Dalverzintepe.
A woman resident of Qorasu Mahalla, Yangi Bozor Village of YuqoriChirchoq District of Tashket Region delivered the unique ceramic cover dated back to 11-12th centuries.
Resident of Nurota District of Navoi Region passed over to the museum a large ceramic cup – togora, which dates back between 1 c B.C. and 1 c. A.D.
Ceramic lamp and a water-pot, reportedly a birdbath, passed over by come resident of Qushtepa Village of Oqqurgon District of Tashkent Region. Both items were made in 11 and 12 c.c.
The museum received 14 unique items from the burials, allegedly of a noble Byzantine warrior (5 and 6 c.c.) from Mayskiy Village of Tashkent Region in June 2013. The burial was found by local residents during digging. Among the artifacts were coin depicting the emperor’s head and deity, remains of belt assemble, which includes belt’s applied metal plates depicting an angel on the front на; ribbons to clothes and other makes made of gold. In the experts’ opinion, the makes have great value for studying the history of trade relations between the Central Asia and Byzantium.
However, most part of exhibit items is formed owing to archaeological excavations. Holdings of the museum enriched with 91 makes found during excavations carried out by specialists of the Institute of Art Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. Four pieces of clothes dated 5 and 6 c.c. found in Munchoqtepa ancient settlement in Pop town stand out. Such artifacts are rare because of the characteristics of the material that is exposed to the environment. Here also a wooden comb, necklace as a chain of semiprecious stones, a fragment of horse harness made of bone; zerevs, an item for building fire. Bogomolov G.I., Senior research fellow of the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Science of Uzbekistan, passed over a bronze mirror dated back to 10th to 12th c.c., and an iron triangular arrowhead dated back to 9-11th c.c.
(Source: “Uzbekistan Today” newspaper)