OSCE appreciates the level of interaction with Uzbekistan

At the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on May 16, 2019, the annual report of the Organization’s Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan, Ambassador John MacGregor, on the activities of his office in Tashkent from April 2018 to May 2019 was presented.

John MacGregor welcomed the changes and productive reforms in Uzbekistan in recent years. The high efficiency of projects implemented in the republic was noted.

The Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan to the OSCE Sherzod Asadov, in turn, supported the activities of coordinator John MacGregor in the implementation of projects that meet the main provisions of the Actions Strategy in Five Priority Areas for the Development of Uzbekistan in 2017-2021.

It is indicated that in February of this year, the head of our state triggered five social initiatives with a special focus on youth development and strengthening the role of women in society.

In addition, the participants' attention is drawn to the efforts being made by Uzbekistan to create favorable conditions for free media activities in the country, strengthen the status of journalists, develop civic journalism and improve the legal framework, as well as increase transparency and openness of state bodies.

Particularly, restoration of full access to foreign news and human rights websites, providing journalistic accreditation to representatives of a number of foreign media was noted.

The official statement of the Agency of Information and Mass Communications under the Presidential Administration on the measures taken in the country to ensure media freedom was disseminated as an official document of the OSCE Permanent Council.

The heads of the Permanent Missions of EU, USA, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan made comments on the progress of large-scale reforms implemented in Uzbekistan and welcomed the level of interaction of the republic with the OSCE, the official website of the MFA reported.