On February 21-22, the delegation of Uzbekistan headed by Deputy Chairman of the Senate of Oliy Majlis Svetlana Artykova took part in the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which was held in Vienna, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.
The event was attended by over 300 parliamentarians from 57 participating states and 11 OSCE cooperation partners, as well as representatives from the institutions of the organization.
During the session, the President of the National Council of Austria Wolfgang Sobotka, the OSCE PA President George Tsereteli, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Laichak, the OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger and others delivered speeches.
The head of the Uzbek delegation highlighted the large-scale socio-economic reforms aimed at ensuring the rights and freedom of the population, strengthening the role of parliament in public life, as well as directed to promoting the international security and sustainable development.
Over the course of two days, meeting participants heard presentations and reports from representatives of the parliaments of the OSCE PA member states, discussed issues related to politics and security, economy and environment, human rights and others in the OSCE space.
The delegation of Uzbekistan also held a number of bilateral meetings, in particular with the President of the Austrian Federal Council (Senate) Ingo Appé, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Lamberto Zanier, the OSCE PA Special Representative for Central Asia Roman Haider and other leaders of the OSCE bodies, during which they considered prospects for cooperation at parliamentary level.
The next annual summer session of the OSCE PA will be held on July 4-8, 2019 in Luxembourg.
