I welcoming remarks

Welcoming speech by Senior Adviser to the OSCE
Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan Hans-Ullrich Ihm
Your Excellency Mr. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov!
Excellencies, dear ladies and gentlemen!
Let me start my remarks by conveying heartfelt greetings
from Ambassador John MacGregor, the OSCE Project
Coordinator in Uzbekistan, who is outside this country at the
moment, so I have the honor to perform his duties temporarily.
Uzbekistan and the OSCE are old friends: Uzbekistan
became an OSCE participating state on 30 January 1992, that is,
less than six months after independence. Other Central Asian
nations also joined our organization in early 1992. OSCE
missions were opened and are functioning in all the capitals of
the Central Asian countries. The Office of the OSCE Project
Coordinator in Uzbekistan exists in its current form from July 1,
2006.
Guided by its mandate, the Project Coordinator assists
Uzbekistan in its efforts to ensure security and stability, and in
enacting commitments that have been made voluntarily and
unanimously with other participating countries within the OSCE.
What could serve security and stability better than good
neighborly relations, dialogue and cooperation with adjacent
nations? The Republic of Uzbekistan, under the leadership of its
President, His Excellency Mr. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has been
developing these good-neighborly relations, advancing a regional
dialogue. This is backed not least by today’s International
Conference. This is the reason why we accepted the invitation of
the Uzbek side to act as co-organizer of this forum with great
pleasure and with satisfaction.
With the same contentment do we take note that high-
ranking and competent guests from other Central Asian countries
take part in the conference, and that it also arouses great interest

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among heads of embassies and representations of international
organizations accredited in the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The Project Coordinator notes with the same joy that not
only are our joint projects and events successful, but that the
Republic of Uzbekistan also closely cooperates with other
institutions and bureaus of the OSCE, as evidenced, for example,
by the visits this year by Director of the OSCE Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and President of the
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, as well as planned activities and
visits in the second half of the year.
Exchange of best practices in the OSCE participating
states is a standard and mutually beneficial instrument in
realizing the Organization’s commitments. At the same time,
more and more attention is paid to the exchange of ‘best
practices’ within Central Asia. A number of relevant regional
events were held and working groups established. This is a
promising trend, and it is in line with the topic of this conference.
In paragraph 5.2 of the Strategy of Action along Five
Priority Areas for the Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan
in 2017-2021, mention is made not only of boosting the
international image of the Republic of Uzbekistan, but also
creating a security, stability and good-neighborliness belt around
Uzbekistan. We are confident that today’s conference is the best
tool for achieving these ambitious, magnificent goals that cannot
be secured alone, but only in close cooperation with neighboring
countries, regional and international partners and the international
community as a whole. We are open for further cooperation.
We, the OSCE Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan, and I
personally express our desire, hope and confidence that today’s
International Conference will be successful, that the discussions
will be live with the manifestation of many new ideas, that the
exchange of views leads to full mutual understanding and a better
account of the positions of other partners.

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We wish happiness, health, luck and many successes to
our organizers, participants and guests of the International
Conference “Central Asia Is the Core Priority of Uzbekistan’s
Foreign Policy” in our multilateral and very often strenuous
activities!

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