Georgia gets a second chance, at long odds
The International Herald Tribune
Tbilisi, January 2: Revolutions often start well but then turn sour. Lenin`s dictum that any revolution must be able to defend itself holds true for what Georgians are calling their "revolution of roses," the bloodless ouster of President Eduard Shevardnadze on Nov. 23. The ouster has raised hopes among the Georgians that they can put a decade of despair behind them. Success will hinge on what the new government does in the next few months and on help, rather than hindrance, from outside powers. The outcome is being anxiously watched by authoritarian leaders from Minsk to Tashkent. On Sunday voters in Georgia will elect a new president. The result is not in doubt. The opposition has agreed on a common candidate, the U.S.-educated Mikhail Saakashvili, 36. A recent poll by the Institute of Policy Studies confirms that he is the clear favorite. If the going gets tough in the months ahead, however, Saakashvili may lose the backing of the opposition leaders who united behind him for the purpose of removing Shevardnadze. The great unknown is whether Saakashvili will be able to tackle the corruption and clan politics that have wrecked the Georgian state over the past decade. The "rose revolution" threatens privileged groups that are more than ready to use violence to disrupt the reformist government. After 1991, Georgia descended into a civil war that left three of its regions - South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Adzharia - outside the control of the central government in Tbilisi. During the 11 years under Shevardnadze, $1.2 billion in U.S. aid disappeared into a black hole while the economy collapsed and corrupt insiders grew rich through the abuse of office. The rose revolution came from a groundswell of opposition led by a network of nongovernment organizations that developed with Western support. But there was no chance of success as long as the United States stood behind Shevardnadze, a loyal ally. Last spring the U.S. government decided to pull the plug on him rather than wait for the next presidential election, scheduled for 2005. What led the United States to change its position? First, there was the appearance of new, promising and pro-Western leaders within Georgia. More important, there was a growing fear that Russia was taking control of Georgia`s bankrupt economy. In May, Georgia signed over its indebted gas infrastructure to the Russian company Gazprom, and in August the collapsed electricity grid, formerly operated by the American company AES, was taken over by Russia`s Unified Energy Systems. Perhaps most important, work began last May on the Georgian section of a pipeline, crucial to U.S. policy in the region, that is to carry oil from Azerbaijan to Turkey. Only a legitimate, democratic government would be able to calm environmentalists` fears that the pipeline might harm Georgia`s famous mineral water, its third-largest export, and make sure it was completed on schedule. It is important to keep the pipeline in perspective. As things stand it is more important to Azerbaijan and the United States than to Georgia. Some Georgians have an unrealistic expectation that the pipeline will bring instant wealth, but laying it will create only 3,000 temporary jobs, and future transit fees will be a modest $60 million annually. The estimated one million Georgians working in Russia probably send home many times that amount each year.
The "rose revolution" will not be sustained unless there is economic recovery, and economic recovery will only come if Georgia is able to open trade links across secessionist Abkhazia and Ajaria, which control the main transport routes into Russia and Turkey, respectively.
Georgian Election to Test Stability
Associated Press
Tbilisi, January 2: The flowers carried by demonstrators in the "rose revolution" that drove President Eduard Shevardnadze from power have barely had time to wilt before Georgians vote on his replacement. Sunday`s election comes six weeks to the day after Shevardnadze stepped down amid massive protests over fraud in parliamentary elections. The vote will be watched closely as a harbinger of whether the former Soviet republic can establish stability after the upheaval. After the announcement of the early election, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe scrambled to raise some $5 million for preparations. "If the forthcoming elections do not meet international standards, it will be detrimental to the international credibility of the democratization process in Georgia," Bruce George, who heads the OSCE observer mission in Georgia, said last month. Six candidates are running but only one is likely to attract significant support: Mikhail Saakashvili, the driving figure behind the anti-Shevardnadze protests. Yet Saakashvili`s prospects are troubled by the elections boycott called by the powerful Revival party. Revival head Aslan Abashidze, the leader of the autonomous Adzharia province, backed off a threat to shut polling stations in Adzharia. Still, widespread observance of the boycott by Revival members could make turnout lower than the 50 percent required for a valid result. And any winner would face the task of mollifying the powerful Abashidze, whose region with Georgia`s main Black Sea port is of significant economic importance. His province already resists forwarding customs duties to the national treasury. Abashidze is a vehement opponent of Saakashvili and this week accused Georgia`s interim authorities, led by Saakashvili allies, of plotting to assassinate him. Since the protests against Shevardnadze began in early November, Abashidze has met repeatedly with Russian officials and with leaders of Georgia`s two separatist regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, raising fears that Georgia`s giant neighbor was seeking to destabilize the country.
KZ Naturalization
Kazakhstanskaya Pravda
Astana, December 31: Presidential decree on granting citizenship to over 10 thousand people was signed on the eve of New Year. The majority of the new citizens are oralmans from CIS and foreign states, presidential press service informs.
President Askar Akaev Of Kyrgyzstan Will Answer TV Viewers Questions On Live BroadcastKabar AgencyBishkek, December 30: The live broadcast with participation of Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev will take place today at 20.00 at the National TV/Radio Corporation and last for 22.00. According to the presidential press service of Kyrgyzstan, everyone has a chance to ask question to President A. Akaev through the letter by address: presidential administration of Kyrgyzstan, Government House, Chui Avenue, Bishkek - 720003, or through telephone: 214867, 626250, 658481. By email: presspkr@mail.gov.kg. Request: it is necessary to indicate name, address and phone.
UzReport.com, BVV Congratulates With Coming New YearUzbek ReportTashkent, December 30: The joint editorial board of Biznes Vestnik Vostoka [Oriental Business Herald] and BVV Business Report weeklies and UzReport.com internet portal would like to congratulate all of you with the coming New Year. We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to all our readers and partners, who were with us during the past year. We hope that our fruitful cooperation will continue in 2004. We wish all entrepreneurs of Uzbekistan and foreign companies doing business in the country success in their business, as well as health, happiness and prosperity to their families.
Kyrgyz Parliament Amends Election CodeRadio Free EuropeBishkek, December 29: The Kyrgyz parliament has adopted changes to the Election Code to give the same rights to candidates on party election lists as enjoyed by individual, independent candidates, KyrgyzInfo and Interfax reported on 29 December. The amendments also give election observers and candidates` representatives the right to be present for the vote count and to sign election-commission protocols. The amendments also specify that ballot boxes be made of transparent plastic to prevent tampering. The changes to the Election Code were proposed by President Askar Akaev.
Uzbekistan Struggles With Post-communist FutureThe Washington TimesTashkent, December 27: While the United States was distracted with Afghanistan in 2002 and by Iraq this year, it has a keen interest in the political fate of a new strategic partner in Muslim Central Asia, the republic of Uzbekistan. A large former Soviet air base there became a staging area for the U.S. attack on the Taliban regime early in 2002, and U.S. troops remain stationed there as others scour the mountains of eastern Afghanistan for a spider hole containing Osama bin Laden. President Islam Karimov was Uzbekistan`s Communist Party boss during the Soviet period, and he has had his hands full for the past 12 years steering his country toward a market-based economy and a democratic republic, and at the same time fighting a small group of armed rebels closely allied to bin Laden`s al Qaeda. After car bombings killed 14 persons in the capital, Tashkent, in 1999, the government stepped up its crackdown on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which operated at that time freely in Afghanistan with the protection and support of the Taliban. Uzbek security forces also arrested and jailed more than 4,000 people - watchdog groups say 7,000 - chiefly young men belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) and other underground Islamic groups that until now have avoided violence, but which, in the government`s view, want to set up a Taliban-like regime in Tashkent. But Mr. Karimov`s critics in the Western press, the U.S. State Department and human-rights groups are legion. `The government is the terrorist,` Margarita Assenova, a human-rights activist with Washington-based Freedom House, told Insight magazine. Mrs. Assenova, who spent several months in Tashkent showing people how to make official complaints about human-rights abuses, said the government uses `the terrorist threat` as an excuse to suppress any opposition group. As the International Crisis Group, a multinational conflict-resolution group based in Brussels, reported in July: `In Uzbekistan, mass arrests of Muslims, many but not all members of radical political groups, have led to serious mistrust between authorities and the population and radicalization of those who have suffered from a brutal police force.` Such criticism is exaggerated and naive, according to Stephen Schwartz, author of `The Two Faces of Islam` and a recognized specialist on Islamic extremism. `It is hard to understand how people who are working underground to overthrow the elected government and re-establish the Islamic caliphate can be any further radicalized,` he told Insight. `The whole weight of the ICG report is to downplay the threat of Wahhabism, the threat of radicals as represented by Hizb ut-Tahrir,` Mr. Schwartz said. He has argued that - in a post-September 11 world - the doctrine of pre-emption trumps the presumption of innocence until proven guilty of terrorism. As Mr. Schwartz wrote in an essay for the Weekly Standard, `groups like HT that do not yet carry out acts of violence nonetheless prepare an environment conducive to violence.` `Identifying the advocates of extreme ideology with the practitioners of terror does not undermine the campaign against terrorism. The campaign against terrorism is undermined by weakness, irresolution and apologetics, not by identifying the enemy.` At present, Hizb ut-Tahrir (pronounced `his-boot tuck-reer`) al Islami, (the Islamic Liberation Party), operates freely out of its London headquarters, but is legally banned in all Central Asian nations and virtually all countries in the Middle East. Its ideology envisions a strict Islamic state and the re-establishment of the medieval Arab caliphate. The movement, which began in Jerusalem in 1953, sent preachers and missionaries in droves to Uzbekistan after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Because it operates clandestinely, its membership is unknown, but it claims to have thousands of adherents in Uzbekistan, and, according to the ICG report, HT has become the most prominent challenge to the government`s secular leadership. HT literature is virulently anti-Jewish, and some of it is indeed threatening. According to Uzbek officials, the following exhortation in the magazine Al Vaiy was distributed by HT three months prior to the September 11 attacks: `A faithful Muslim should exercise all the methods to fight against infidels. In such cases there is no difference whether he will stand at a distance and fight against the enemy by means of arms or fight face to face without any weapon or he, without jumping by parachute, will direct the plane to where the infidels are gathered.` The article goes on to say: `If the enemy uses the weapons of mass destruction, as is happening in Palestine, then we will immediately put into action similar weapons. In this case, there will be no difference whether the enemy or peaceful citizens are killed as a result of using explosives ... . If an old man might help the enemy, for instance, by giving his opinion or showing the methods of killing Muslims, he should also be killed. Imran Waheed, a spokesman for HT in London, denied that the article was published by his organization. `In Uzbekistan, we have no documented links [of HT] to terrorism, ` said Zafar Abdullaev, a national-security officer who has spent eight years studying HT activism. `But we believe there are links between HT leaders and terrorist organizations, and in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, some terrorist bombers were former members of HT before joining the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan,` he added. `At the present time, the group conceals this information for fear of losing support among the Uzbek citizenry.` `Traditional Islam has always had a stronghold in Uzbekistan, but Islamic radicalism is a problem not simply in Uzbekistan, but it is a global problem,` Uzbekistan`s foreign minister, Sodyk Solihovich Safaev, told Insight in an exclusive interview. `There is a propensity to explain radicalism from a simplistic point of view, as if it comes as a direct consequence of poverty or an absence of democracy, yet several of the 9/11 bombers came from prosperous families,` he said. `Islamic radicalism is a big problem in Turkey and Russia, which are considered to be democratic countries,` Mr. Safaev added. `No, the problem of religious extremism is within Islam itself.` Responding to criticism from human rights organizations in Tashkent, Mr. Safaev told Insight that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are doing a lot of good for his country. `They are providing experience and knowledge to improve the lives of our people, and we need such watchdogs,` he said. `Due to their criticism, we have more openness in our prison system,` he added, noting that in 2003 alone, the International Committee of the Red Cross visited Uzbek prisons 19 times, and some of its visits were unannounced. On the other hand, he disagrees with NGOs on the issue of accommodating HT. `The human-rights community believes the government should have a dialogue with Muslim extremists, but it is difficult to do that with a secretive organization that does not have dialogue and compromise on its agenda,` he went on. `While Western analysts are divided about the nature of the Islamist movement, there will be little progress in fighting the growing terrorist threat,` Col. Ilya Vasiliyevich Pyagay, an official of the Uzbek Interior Ministry, told Insight in his Tashkent office. `Hizb ut-Tahrir is nothing more than communism from within Islam - the idea of restoring the caliphate is quite similar to `Workers of the World unite!` ` he said. `You must understand that we have had a long experience with communist ideology and practice,` said Col. Pyagay. `We learned history from the communist viewpoint, and we are familiar with Lenin`s methods. Lenin began by starting various groups that demonstrated peacefully under the banner of popular slogans. But his mass movement sheltered a core group prepared for armed struggle. `Peaceful demonstrations led to civil war in Russia. With his armed followers, Lenin took power in 1917 and his followers presided over a dictatorship that lasted more than 70 years,` the colonel added. `The religious extremists eventually will demand political power,` he predicted. Col. Pyagay said the Uzbek government deserves credit for moving proactively to incarcerate the radical activists. `If Uzbekistan hadn`t taken action in time, the consequences would have been calamitous.` By all accounts, Central Asia is experiencing an Islamic revival, and Uzbekistan is no exception. Its mosques are full of worshippers, and its Islamic schools (madrassas) have more applicants than they can admit. Uzbekistan`s top religious cleric, Grand Mufti Abdurashid Haji Bakhramov, told Insight he is pleased with the government`s support of religious schools. `Whereas in 1991, we had only 89 mosques and one madrassa in Bukhara, and one religious seminary, today we have more than 2,000 mosques and 10 madrassas, and we now have an Islamic University in Tashkent,` Mr. Bakhramov said, adding that the government is paying for the development of the religious sector as it does other branches of education. But the ICG complains that the government`s religious registration law of 1998 is a heavy-handed attempt to control religion as it did in Soviet times. The ICG said that after it was enacted, thousands of mosques were closed by the authorities because they could not meet the registration requirements. Such efforts are seen by critics as a clash between an authoritarian secular government and independent, devout citizenry. This way at looking at the problem is a `wholesale error,` said Mr. Schwartz. `The view of the ICG is that the conflict in Uzbekistan is between secular people and devout people, but the idea that there is a split between the secular Muslims and the devout Muslims is a Western idea,` he declared. `People in the Muslim world are not divided between the secular and the devout; they are divided between traditional, pluralistic Islam and the radical Islam, and Westerners are not getting this,` he said. Religious tolerance, in fact, has been a hallmark of the cosmopolitan, multiethnic Islam for which Central Asia is known. A Jewish community has resided there, chiefly in Bukhara, for 2,500 years, and Uzbekistan was a refuge for Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. The idea of an Islamic state that would expel all Jews is new to Uzbek citizens, and ominous if it should become a popular movement, said Mr. Abdullaev, the national-security officer who studied HT activism. `HT now is targeting Jews and Westerners, but who is to say that it could not target other religions? It could produce a state parallel to fascism and communism,` he said. There are signs the Karimov regime is changing its approach. On Dec. 2, the president announced an amnesty that would pardon about 700 prisoners over three months. This follows previous pardons, in 2001 and 2002. Mr. Bakhramov told Insight that he is doing his part by visiting jailed extremists and using moral suasion. `I have been to every prison in the country where religious extremists are,` he said. `Most admitted their mistake and have repented.` Other prisoners become hardened in their resolve to overthrow the government, and tell visitors so, said Zeyno Baran of the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom, who interviewed several extremists in prison recently.
Kazakh President Calls For Revitalisation Of International OrganisationsRadio Free EuropeAstana, December 29: In a wide-ranging interview in `Izvestiya` on 29 December, Nursultan Nazarbaev called for a close examination of international organizations by the world community and for reforms to overcome what he called `stagnation` in addressing some international problems, particularly the fight against terrorism. Nazarbaev also called for the creation of an association of Caspian littoral states, but complained that the other Caspian states have shown little interest in this proposal. Nazarbaev also said no country should be barred from taking part in stabilization efforts in Iraq because it had its own assessment of the problems there. He also complained about Russian media reports calling the closure of the Kazakh-Russian border to stop illegal migration and drug trafficking. According to Nazarbaev, Kazakhstan has expended a great deal of effort and money providing a defensive line for Russia against these problems.
Tajikistan Destroys Anti-personnel MinesKabar AgencyDushanbe, December 29: A thousand and a half anti-personnel mines have been destroyed at one of artillery ranges of Tajikistan`s Defence Ministry. The action has been carried out in the framework of the 1997 Ottawa convention on the ban on production, stockpiling and use of anti-personnel mines, the chief of the Tajik Centre for Mine-Clearing Dzhonmakhmad Radhzabov told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. He said several thousands of landmines are kept at storage facilities of the Defence Ministry. This arsenal will be destroyed by the next year`s April. The Central Asian republic has joined the convention two years ago. As for clearing the land mines in the east of Tajikistan, where rival parties laid mines during the recent armed standoff, Radzhzabov said all large mine-fields had been found. Mine-clearing operations could begin in the spring with assistance from Swiss specialists. According to independent sources, a total number of laid land mines is about 15,000 in Tajikistan.
Kyrgyz Say 25 December Landmine Death Was On Tajik - Uzbek BorderRadio Free EuropeBishkek, December 29: Kyrgyzstan`s Border Service reported that it has investigated information provided by Tajik border guards about two purported land-mine deaths on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border on 25 December, and found that, in reality, one person was killed by a mine on that date on the Tajik-Uzbek border, akipress.org reported on 29 December. According to the Kyrgyz Border Service, the victim was a resident of Isfara Raion in northern Tajikistan`s Sughd Oblast. Two people were killed by Uzbek mines in the oblast in early November (see `RFE/RL Newsline,` 6 November 2003). Uzbekistan mined parts of its borders with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in 1999 and 2000 to prevent incursions by Islamist militants, and has refused to remove them, citing national security.
US Exim Bank Oks $160 Mln Loan For Caspian PipelineReutersWashington DC, December 30: The U.S. Export-Import Bank on Tuesday approved $160 million in repayment loan guarantees to support the export of U.S. equipment and services for building a huge pipeline to transport crude from the Caspian Sea region to Western markets.The 1,094-mile pipeline will carry up to 1 million barrels per day from the Azerbaijan capital of Baku to Georgia`s capital of Tbilisi and then to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The oil will start flowing in 2005. U.S. companies will supply engineering services, control systems and pump systems for the $3.4 billion project. `U.S. participation in the project will support thousands of U.S. jobs among exporters and suppliers,` said Ex-Im Bank Chairman Philip Merrill.
Kazakh Leader Calls For Caspian Unity To Offset OPECKazakhstan NewsMoscow, December 29: Kazakhstan`s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has called on the five Caspian Sea nations to unite in an organisation that could compete with the powerful OPEC oil consortium. `International experts say that the Arab countries and OPEC are nervous not only about the scale of Caspian oil resources, but also the fact that Caspian states are not part of the cartel,` Nazarbayev told the Izvestia daily in an interview published Monday. `Caspian oil flows may destroy (OPEC`s) might, affect its ability to set high prices and use oil as an instrument of political blackmail,` Nazarbayev said. `So I suggested that Caspian states create an organisation of their own,` the Kazakh leader explained, admitting however that `so far this suggestion has not been properly answered`. Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan have been mired in a dispute over access to the resource-rich sea since shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Laying Down The Law For Kyrgyzstan`s FarmersSwiss InfoBishkek, December 29: Legal disputes over land ownership have become a central feature of the new Kyrgyzstan. A project co-funded by Switzerland aims to educate farmers about their legal rights and how they can protect themselves against corruption and illegal appropriation of land.The acting mayor tried to claim half of my land,` said Tapaiev Amarvek, a farmer in Kyrgyzstan`s Fergana Valley. `One night a group of his drunken colleagues came to my house and threatened to take over the property,` he said. Amarvek was given 30 hectares of land on which to breed horses after the government of Kyrgyzstan embarked on a wide-scale privatisation programme in 1996. While the policy ensured many ordinary farmers were given access to land, most remain ignorant about their legal rights. To help educate landholders such as Amarvek, international donors established the Legal Assistance to Rural Citizens (LARC) programme three years ago. Graft and corruption LARC specialises in running test cases on behalf of farmers and encouraging local authorities to practise `good governance`. The organisation operates throughout the country, and has 21 regional bureaux, each staffed by at least two lawyers. Kachynbaev Nadyrbek, the head of LARC`s bureau in Jalal Abad, told swissinfo there were countless cases of farmers having their rights trampled on. `Privatisation created many problems, and not all of them can be resolved under current legislation,` Nadyrbek said. `That`s why we try to set legal precedents that must be followed by others.` However, the biggest problems are related to local officials and bureaucrats who use the general level of ignorance for their own enrichment. LARC devotes much of its energy to educating bureaucrats about property law and the need to pursue problem cases through the courts. Nishanbaev Gairat, the mayor of 30,000 people in the village of Bazar-Korgon, confirmed the problem. `Once we used to simply confiscate land if we thought it was being illegally used,` Gairat said. `These days that is no longer possible. Now we go through the court system.` More and more, we find ourselves dealing with family and inheritance issues.
Turkmen Gas Imports EconomicalTehran TimesTehran, December 29: The long distance between natural gas production centers in south Iran and consumption foci in northern parts of the country has made gas imports from Turkmenistan economical. Director of operations at the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) announced that although there were gas resources in northeast country, but due to vastness of Khorasan province, the gas could not be used for supply to Northern provinces. Abdolhossein Samari added that NIGC`s policy was based on supplying gas to northern parts of Iran through imports from neighboring countries including Turkmenistan. He said since Iran enjoyed the world`s second largest gas reserves, it had to be active in gas trade in order to catch up with such countries as Russia. Samari said gas exports to Turkey could facilitate export of Iran`s gas to other European countries.
Gazprom Squeezes Itera Out Of Turkmen Gas MarketRadio Free EuropeAshgabat, December 29: The Russian state-controlled gas firm Gazprom has succeeded in forcing competitor Itera out of the market for exporting gas from Turkmenistan, centrasia.ru reported on 29 December, citing a 26 December article in `Vedomosti.` Gazprom, which controls the export pipelines for Turkmen gas, reportedly explained the exclusion of Itera from the Turkmen export market as due to the lack of pipeline capacity through Uzbekistan. Earlier this year, Itera purchased 4 billion cubic meters of gas from Ashgabat and expressed the intention to purchase 4.8 billion cubic meters in 2004. Itera asked Gazprom in November to approve the transport of 7 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan in 2004, but Gazprom refused. Gazprom partner Eural TG, which is registered in Hungary, will take over the markets that Itera loses, according to `Vedomosti.`
Kyrgyzstan`s Organic Cotton RevolutionSwiss InfoBishkek, December 29: `Finally, I feel like a real farmer,` Kurbashev Mirzaakim told swissinfo. A former army officer who was given a plot of land by the Kyrgyzstan government when it privatised the country`s collective farms in 1996, Mirzaakim spent the summer learning about organic cotton production. Along with around 20 other participants, he completed a course run by Swiss agronomists. `Once upon a time I used to just copy whatever my neighbour was doing. When he irrigated, so did I, and when he picked the cotton, that`s what I did,` Mirzaakim said. Jens Engeli, a Swiss agronomist based in the southern city of Jalal Abad, said that many Kyrgyz farmers were still learning the basics of agriculture. `With the land privatisations of 1996, workers on the collective farms were suddenly made independent farmers,` Engeli said. `The problem was that workers previously were employed as mechanics or something specific and only the [collective farm] agronomist had the overall agricultural knowledge,` he said. Engeli works for the Swiss charity, Helvetas, which is being financed by the Swiss Development Agency and the World Bank for its work in Kyrgyzstan. Learning to love compost The organic farmers` school is designed to teach farmers how to understand their crops better, making them aware of subtle changes in the plant and how to respond to potential problems, such as pests. `The school taught us to look at cotton plants closely,` said one 27-year-old farmer. `Before, we only looked at the field from the edge,` he added.
Kyrgyzstan Follows Swiss Economic ModelSwiss InfoBishkek, Decemebr 28: Switzerland has helped Kyrgyzstan to adapt by representing the republic at the Bretton Woods institutions - the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). In 1991, Askar Akayev, a Soviet-era politician, became the country`s first president after winning 95 per cent of the popular vote. Two years later he replaced the Russian rouble with a new national currency, the som, and privatised the country`s agricultural and industrial sectors. In a bid to attract foreign investors, the government offered tax concessions. More than a decade later, the country is gradually seeing some benefits from the reforms. Annual economic growth reached five per cent in 2001, before slumping in 2002. Of all Central Asian countries, Kyrgyzstan is considered to have the most liberal economy. swissinfo: What does Kyrgyzstan offer foreign investors 12 years after independence? Djoormart Otorbaev: In general, the Kyrgyz Republic is not attractive to investors. [We] lack hydrocarbon resources, access to the sea, an easy trading environment and have a very limited internal market of five million. Which means we have to be creative. We have to offer a good investment climate - a rule of law, transparent public institutions and a reliable and easy fiscal system. So we work on all of those components. swissinfo: Switzerland became involved with Kyrgyzstan shortly after its independence. What has this relationship yielded? D.O: Relations with Switzerland are excellent. One of the reasons we survived this very complicated period of our history is because the Swiss government really contributed.
Kazakhstan Seeks Caspian Oil CartelReutersMoscow, December 28: The nations surrounding the Caspian Sea should create an OPEC (news - web sites)-like oil cartel to help support global prices and reassure OPEC itself, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in interviews published on Sunday. Former Soviet Caspian states Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are not OPEC members, and their giant energy reserves are being developed by international majors such as ChevronTexaco Corp. (NYSE:CVX - news), BP Plc (BP.L), Royal Dutch/Shell Group (RD.AS) (SHEL.L) and Total (TOFN.PA). Iran, which also has a Caspian coastline, is already an OPEC member. `Global experts consider the nervousness of Arab countries and all of OPEC`s comes not only from the massiveness of the Caspian reserves, but also because the region`s states do not enter OPEC,` said Nazarbayev in an interview with the Interfax news agency and Russia`s Izvestia daily. `Therefore I have suggested to the Caspian states that we establish our own organization in advance,` he said in remarks posted on the Web site www.interfax.ru. `So far, unfortunately, this suggestion has not found an answer.` Kazakhstan has staked its economy on developing extensive oil reserves such as the Kashagan field, the biggest new oil find in the last 30 years, and has attracted more than $20 billion in foreign investment since the fall of communism. Nazarbayev said the nation needed more foreign investment.
Rebuilding Kyrgyzstan`s Healthcare SystemSwiss InfoBishkek, December 28: Poverty and the harsh climate have burdened the population with illnesses such as brucellosis, altitude-induced hypertension and lung diseases including asthma. Tobias Schüth, a project manager for the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) in Kyrgyzstan, told swissinfo that the collapse of the Soviet Union had left the country`s health system in ruins. `The Soviet health system was pretty good, but it was inefficient in that it cost too much money,` Schüth said. Once subsidies from Moscow ended after independence in 1991, the government was forced to slash healthcare spending. Doctors` wages plummeted, supplies of live-saving drugs dried up and hospitals fell into disrepair. At the same time, the infant mortality rate - which had previously matched Western standards - rose to over five per cent. Poverty-linked diseases such as tuberculosis began to re-emerge. Going local In an effort to reverse the decline, the SRC started rebuilding four hospitals in eastern Kyrgyzstan, and supplying them with basic medical equipment. The aid organisation is also helping the Kyrgyz government restructure its healthcare system. At the time of independence in 1991, Kyrgyzstan had a relatively sophisticated network of well-trained medical specialists and nurses, along with an extensive hospital network. However, Schüth says the system was overly centralised, and suffered from a lack of family doctors. Currently, the SRC is helping local health authorities build a grassroots system, based on 27 village medical centres, staffed by general practitioners. `One of the ways to make the system more efficient is to retrain specialised doctors as family doctors, and build up the number of family doctors coming through the universities.` Anara Omurzakova in the pre-natal clinic of her hospital in Jumgal (swissinfo) Independence Anara Omurzakova, who heads the health service in Kyrgyzstan`s Jumgal region, says the new system gives local communities greater say over healthcare decisions. `During the past three years people have realised that we can do everything ourselves,` Omurzakova told swissinfo.
Viet Nam-Uzbekistan Direct Air Link LaunchedNewscutsTashkent, December 28: The national Uzbekistan Airways officially launched a direct air link between Uzbekistan and Viet Nam by landing a plane at the Tan Son Nhat international airport in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday. The first flight took off from Tasjkent, Uzbekistan and carried 101 passengers. Uzbekistan Airways will conduct one flight from Uzbekistan to HCM City per week and visa versa, using Boeing 767aircraft. In 2004, UA will operate a direct air link between Tashkent and Ha Noi.
Export Credit Insurer Asked To Meet LiabilityKazakhstan NewsNew Delhi, December 28: The Supreme Court has asked Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd to pay the insured amount to ABL International Ltd on the export of 3,000 metric tonnes of tea executed 10 years ago. The court said the private company could not be asked after so many years to file a suit for the recovery of the amount. Since the corporation was a government entity, the Calcutta High Court was right in ordering it to fulfil its insurance liability, the Supr-eme Court said. In this case, Rassik Woodworth Ltd entered into a contract with RVO Kazpishepromsyrio, a state-owned corporation of Kazakhstan, for the supply of tea in 1993. According to the original pact, the payment was to be made by the Kazak Corporation by barter of goods mentioned in the schedule to the agreement. The payment was also guaranteed by the Kazakhstan government. If the contract of barter could not be finalised for any reason, the Kazak Corporation was to pay the exporter for the goods received by it in US dollars. After the contract was signed, Rassik assigned part of the export contract to ABL International. On a direction by the Reserve Bank of India, ABL International approached the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation to insure the risk of payment. The state corporation issued a comprehensive risk policy for a premium of Rs 16 lakh. Later, the payment of barter could not be finalised and the Kazak Corporation agreed to make the payment for the tea consignment in dollars. But it defaulted in this payment. The Kazakhstan government also failed to fulfil its counter-guarantee. Then ABL International approached the Credit Guarantee Corporation. It repudiated the claim, saying it covered only the barter agreement and the dollar payment agreement was made without consulting it. ABL International moved the Calcutta High Court to enforce the insurance contract. The corporation resisted the writ petition, saying the company should file a suit in a civil court and could not move the high court for settling disputes over contracts. The single-judge Bench allowed the writ petition of the private company. But a Division Bench allowed the appeal of the government corporation. Then the company moved the Supreme Court. It upheld the order of the single-judge Bench. `When an instrumentality of the state acts contrary to the public good and public interest, unfairly, unjustly and unreasonably, in its contractual obligations, it really acts contrary to the constitutional guarantee,` the apex court said. In this case, the private company had to compulsorily approach the government monopoly corporation for insurance to cover the export risk. Therefore, it was liable to fulfil the terms of the contract, the court said.
Persian Alphabet Being Taught on Tajikistan State TVTehran TimesTehran, January 1:Teaching the Persian language alphabet has recently begun on Tajik state TV. Following an agreement signed between the Iranian Cultural House in Tajikistan and the state TV Channel 1, a 12-hour program, teaching the Persian alphabet is being broadcast on TV, said Iran’s cultural attaché in Tajikistan. Mahmoud Marandi added that a series of video tapes, posters, books, and CDs are also being made available to enhance the program. According to another agreement, noted Iranian scholars and artists will be appearing on the TV program as well. Recently published Persian books will also be introduced. The Persian alphabet was used in Tajikistan for over a thousand years, but from 1929-1940 it was changed first to the Latin alphabet, then later to the Cyrillic. Tajikistan is the only Persian-speaking country in Central Asia. It has a population of over 3.6 million.
Putin Sends New Year Greetings To Heads Of CIS StatesKabar AgencyMoscow, December 30: Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent New Year greetings to heads of former Soviet republics, wishing their countries success and prosperity. Putin said in a message to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma that Russian-Ukrainian partnership had become much stronger in the course of joint work on coordinating the principles of cooperation in the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait, as well as in forming a common economic space which would undoubtedly become an important factor in improving the welfare of the two nations. Putin expressed confidence that the new year will see further strengthening of the atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding which remained an important factor in the development of Russian-Ukrainian strategic partnership. In the New Year greetings to Kazakhstan`s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Putin noted that the traditional friendship and good neighborly ties would continue to strengthen in the interests of the peoples of the two countries, and stability and security in the region and the world at large. Addressing Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, the head of the Russian state expressed the hope that bilateral strategic interaction would further intensify in the new year, to meet vital interests of the peoples of Russia and Kyrgyzstan, and contribute to stability and security in Central Asia. In the New Year greetings to Uzbek leader Islam Karimov, Putin praised the results of the outgoing year, in which he said strategic partnership between the two countries in regional and international matters had strengthened. In a telegram to Tajikistan`s President Emomali Rakhmonov, Putin noted with satisfaction that further strengthening of mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation would contribute to the solution of the tasks aimed at improving the welfare of the nations and ensuring stability and security in Central Asia. Addressing Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, the Russian president emphasized that there were important political and economic decisions in the outgoing year, which had helped bring Russian-Armenian relations to a qualitatively new level of interaction. Extending his best New Year wishes to Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, Putin expressed the conviction that that the implementation of integration plans would contribute to the realization of large socio-economic tasks faced by Russia and Belarus, in the interests of improving the welfare of Russian and Belarussian citizens and ensuring peace and security. Putin`s message to Turkmenistan`s President Saparmurat Niyazov expressed the hope that it would be possible, thanks to joint efforts, to give an impulse to Russian-Turkmen interaction in the economic, political, social, humanitarian and cultural spheres, in the interests of the peoples of both countries, as well as in the interests of strengthening stability and security in Central Asia.
Uzbekistan To Become Political Centre Of SCO - Russian EnvoyUzbek ReportTashkent, December 29: In 2003 Uzbekistan was an active participant in formation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which unites China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In the coming year, Uzbekistan will become a political centre of the organisation, for it will be chair-country in the SCO. Tashkent will host the summits of the SCO Foreign Ministers´ Council and the SCO Leaders Council. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Uzbekistan Farit Mukhametshin spoke to BVV Business Report about the tasks and perspectives of the organisation. - Process of SCO formation is nearing its end. Can you please tell our readers about its main stages of formation, tasks it has to solve and further perspectives? - It is true that in the coming year, the large regional organisation of Central Asian states, Russia and China will start working in full. If we talk about the tasks and perspectives of the organisation, the Russian President Vladimir Putin exactly determined the SCO´s aim at the Saint Petersburg summit in summer 2003, which was fully supported by the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov. This identification is that the SCO shall gain a foothold as a constructive body of international policy, where interests of all member countries are taken in consideration. I will add that the SCO will solve a complex of tasks in security, economic and other collaboration spheres of member countries. The SCO is becoming a powerful regional organisation with huge opportunities and perspectives. This organisation is a many-discipline organisation, which - along with main political constituent - will assist cooperation in economy, transport, culture and joint fight against new threats and challenges. The main aim of the SCO is to establish peace and stability in Central Asia and around this region, as well as increase the well-being of the region´s population. The SCO was founded in June 2001 as a result of re-organisation of the Shanghai Five (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan), created in 1996, after Uzbekistan´s joining the organisation. The heads of the six countries signed the Shanghai Declaration on creation of the SCO. This document stipulates cooperation in fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism, as well as creation of the Regional Anti-Terrorism Centre (RATC). The declaration also stipulates development of multi-side documents on interaction in fighting illegal weapon and drug circulation, illegal migration and other crimes. The first steps in economic integration of SCO member countries have been made. The heads of member states and governments inked the Memorandum of main aims and directions of the regional economic cooperation. The mechanism of consultations on trade-economic issues on the ministry level was launched and the working group on different spheres of cooperation was created. The signing of the SCO Charter in June 2002 completed the formation of the organisation. It should be noted that during these years it an accurate mechanism of managing bodies was created: Council of Heads of SCO, Council of Heads of Governments and Council of Foreign Ministers. The working body of the organisation is the Council of National Coordinators. I also want to note the increasing role of SCO in solving key international issues. The mechanism of multi-side consultations within the framework of the SCO in the United Nations is under development. In the row is establishment of dialogue between foreign policy bodies, including on Afghan problem and rehabilitation of its economy. I want to add that the worries on militarisation of the SCO and military-political inflection are groundless. Military contacts are only considered in cooperation in fighting new treats and challenges. - Mr Ambassador, what is the possibility of the expansion of the organisation? - The possibility of expansion is stipulated by the SCO Charter and many states have expressed wish to join the organisation. The organisation´s participants believe this issue is a question of the future.
Vice-Premier: China To Develop Friendship With KyrgyzstanXinhuaBishkek, December 29: Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi said here Monday that China is ready to work with Kyrgyzstan to promotethe good-neighborly, friendly relations between the two nations. At a meeting with visiting Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Kubanychbek Zhumaliyev, Wu said that bilateral economic and trade cooperation had progressed smoothly with growing trade volumes year by year since the two nations forged diplomatic ties over 10 years ago. She voiced the hope that the two sides would explore new ways of cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual benefit so as to further promote economic and trade relations. Zhumaliyev, who is here as guest of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said Kyrgyzstan would further expand cooperation with China on the footing of equality and mutual benefit.
Iranian Envoy Visits Iranian-Uzbek Friendship SocietyUzbek ReportTashkent, December 29: Iranian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Muhammad Fathali visited Iranian-Uzbek Friendship Society to meet members of this organisation and the Uzbek Culture Minister and secretary of this society. According to IRNA, the society secretary Ibragimov noted the importance of relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and indicated the historic roots of Persian language in Uzbekistan. He noted that Uzbeks spoke Persian until the end of the 19th century. He also expressed hope to the beginning of new stage of relations between Teheran and Tashkent. In his turn Culture Minister Bakhram Qurbanov underlined historic and cultural commonness of two nations and he called for further expanding cooperation between Iran and Uzbekistan in the cultural sphere. Noting importance of cultural cooperation of two states, Iranian envoy underlined necessity to understanding specific concerns of each side. He also noted that presidents of Iran and Uzbekistan played an important factor of cultural closeness.
Visiting Tajik Delegation In Talks With Key Uzbek MinistersBBCTashkent, December 29: A delegation led by Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov is visiting our country. Today Oqilov and his Uzbek opposite number Shavkat Mirziyoyev held talks with a limited number of officials present, in which issues related to boosting mutual cooperation were discussed. This was followed by a plenary session. The main thrust of the Tajik delegation`s visit to our country ahead of the New Year holiday is to review [bilateral] activities carried out in the outgoing year and to draw up plans for the coming year. Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev said that the Uzbek president was in favour of developing good neighbourly relations with Tajikistan. The two countries are cooperating in such fields as water and energy resources, transport, drug trafficking and fighting religious extremism. Good relations have also been set up within a number of leading international organizations. Also, in the Uzbek Foreign Ministry`s Reception House, Tajik Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov met his Uzbek counterpart Sodiq Safoyev. During the talks, the current state of and prospects for bilateral relations were discussed, as well as a number of other issues of mutual concern.
Uzbeks Pay Tribute To Earthquake Victims, Collect AidUzbek ReportTashkent, December 29: Many people of Uzbekistan and Iranian community in Uzbekistan visited Sharq Zayniddin Mosque in Tashkent to pay tribute to those who died in the earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam. The visitors read Koran and paid homage to causalities. After the first news on earthquake Uzbek President Islam Karimov ordered to collect humanitarian aid for earthquake victims. A special flight of Uzbekistan Airways will deliver humanitarian aid, consisting of blankets, clothes, footwear and foodstuffs, to Iran. The cargo was formed with an active participation of ministries, companies and NGOs of Uzbekistan. A 6.6-magnitude earthquake hit Bam, a historical city in southeastern province of Kerman, on 26 December. According to provincial government spokesman Asadollah Iranmanesh, more than 25,000 bodies have been retrieved since Friday´s earthquake.
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan To Sign Several Agreements In TashkentKabar AgencyTashkent, December 29: The Tajik governmental delegation that will arrive in Tashkent on Monday will discuss the whole range of bilateral relations in the economic sphere in the Uzbek capital. During the visit Prime Minister Akil Akilov who heads the Tajik delegation will hold talks with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyaev and will meet with President Islam Karimov. An agreement on mutual settlements for cargo transportation, gas, energy and lubricants supplies and on rational use of water and energy resources in 2004 will be signed after the negotiations, the executive staff of the Tajik president told Itar-Tass. At the talks members of Tajik and Uzbek governmental delegations will discuss the resumption of ground and air communication between the countries. The talks between the Tajik premier and the Uzbek president will be devoted to the discussion of the prospects of bilateral relations in particular cooperation of the countries to counteract drug trafficking from Afghanistan, joint fight with international terrorism within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Uzbekistan is one of Tajikistan`s main trade partners.
Islam Karimov Sends Condolences On Gas Burst In ChinaUzbek ReportTashkent, December 29: President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov sent condolences to his Chinese counterpart on the occasion of gas well burst in Kaixian County, 337 km northeast of Chongqing. According to Xiunhua, Uzbek leader in his message to Chinese President Hu Jintao expressed deep sympathy for relatives of the victims on behalf of people of Uzbekistan. A gas well burst Tuesday night (23 December) in Kaixian County killed at least 191 people. The accident also released a high concentration of natural gas and sulphuretted hydrogen. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao sent their instructions on Thursday to local governments, urging relevant departments to go all out to rescue victims, prevent poisonous gas from spreading further and reduce casualties.
Iran, Turkmenistan To Discuss Eco, Trade TiesTehran TimesTehran, December 28: Presidents of Iran and Turkmenistan will soon meet to discuss bilateral trade ties, the Russian news agency Itar Tass reported Sunday. The meeting was scheduled during a phone talk between Mohammad Khatami and Saparmurat Niyazov. The two sides will also discuss current differences over the Caspian Sea issues and, if possible, find appropriate solutions to the problem, the news agency reported. In addition, Khatami and Niyazov agreed to boost mutual trade ties, especially in the fields exchanging oil, gas, and electricity. Turkmenistan`s president also condoled Khatami on Friday`s catastrophe in Bam, offering $100,000 as reconstruction aid.
Burdzhanadze Looks For `Red Line` In Putin TalksThe Moscow TimesMoscow, December 28: Georgia`s interim president, Nino Burdzhanadze, met with President Vladimir Putin last week and expressed hope that the two countries would hold off from antagonizing each other. `Good relations are in the interest not only of little Georgia ... but of big Russia,` Burdzhanadze said at a news conference Thursday. `We need to understand that there is a `red line` that we cannot step over.` Burdzhanadze praised Putin for taking Russian-Georgian relations seriously enough to invite her to Moscow even though she is only a temporary leader and expressed satisfaction at the talks` openness. However, she also showed clear irritation with some of Moscow`s recent actions, including the holding of talks with leaders of separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the autonomous region of Adzharia. The Georgian interim leadership was not informed by Moscow of what happened in the talks and `we had to learn about it all from television,` Burdzhanadze said. `I think this shows an unfavorable aspect to our relations that we must abandon.`
Bishkek School Named `Mohammad Khatami`Tehran TimesTehran, December 27: The government of Kyrgyzstan has chosen to name a new school in capital city Bishkek, Mohammad Khatami, after the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, wrote the daily `Slovo Kyrgyzstana` published in Bishkek. The school being constructed in Bishkek with financial help from Iran will train gifted students. The educational center will be completed by the 2004 school year. Gifted students will study in this school, and as the President of Kyrgyzstan in his recent trip to Iran, said, `Sa`dis` of Kyrgyzstan will be trained in this school.`
Uzbek Envoy, Azeri FM Discuss Aliev`s Visit To UzbekistanUzbek ReportTashkent, December 27: On 26 December, Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Vilayat Guliyev met the Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Azerbaijan Abdulgafur Abdurrahmanov. The sides had exchange of views on strengthening the friendly and bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, continuation and expansion of fruitful cooperation in many spheres, Azertag reported quoting press centre of Azeri Foreign Ministry. The Ambassador and Azeri Minister discussed some issues related to the upcoming official visit of Azerbaijan`s President Ilham Aliyev to Uzbekistan and expressed his confidence that this visit would promote the further development of relations between the two countries.
Tajik Prime Minister To Visit Uzbekistan On 29 DecemberUzbek ReportTashkent, December 27: Prime Minister of Tajikistan Akil Akilov will pay a working visit to Uzbekistan on 29 December 2003. According to Uzbek Foreign Ministry, Tajik Prime Minister will hold face-to-face negotiations with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev, after which an expanded meeting of delegations will be held. The members of Tajik delegation will also hold talks in the ministries and departments of Uzbekistan. A session of the expert group on cooperation in water and energy sphere is also planned. The Uzbek and Tajik delegations are expected to sign the agreement on mutual payments for cargo transportation, gas and oil supply and cooperation in regional use of water-energy resources in 2004.
Uzbek, German Universities Sign Cooperation AgreementUzbek ReportTashkent, December 27: A scientific conference on `Indo-German and non Indo-German contacts in language and literature` was organised by Westfal University jointly with Uzbek National University in Munster, Germany. A delegation of the National University and Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies participated in the event. The programme of the conference included 30 reports devoted to issues of literature and linguistics of Uzbek, German, English and other languages. German scientists and students showed a great interest in the culture and history of Uzbekistan, Jahon reported. An agreement on scientific cooperation between the Institute of German Philology of Westfal University and the Foreign Philology Chair of the National University of Uzbekistan was signed as a result of the conference. The agreement envisages student and lecturer exchange. Besides, the National University is to receive free study materials plus 20,000 euros from Munster University for joint projects. The sides also agreed to conduct a joint congress on language and literature in Tashkent in September 2006.
Expedition To Study Babur`s Life In Middle EastUzbek ReportTashkent, December 27: The Babur Foundation has sent an expedition consisting of five people to the Middle East and the Mediterranean to conduct research on the life and activity of the great statesman, Jahon reported. Zahriddin Muhammad Babur was the founder of Babur dynasty and the author of Baburname. The expeditions of the foundation have already visited more than 10 countries, in any way related to Baburids.
Kazakh Senate Adds Life Imprisonment To Criminal CodeRadio Free EuropeAstana, December 29: The upper house of the Kazakh parliament on 29 December adopted a law drafted by the Justice Ministry adding life imprisonment to the possible sentences enumerated in the Criminal Code, khabar.kz and gazeta.kz reported. The inclusion of life imprisonment is part of President Nazarbaev`s plan for the gradual abolition of the death penalty. On 17 December, he instituted a moratorium on the death penalty (see `RFE/RL Newsline,` 19 December 2003). The law on life imprisonment will go into effect on 1 January. Deputy Justice Minister Sabyrzhan Bekbolsynov told khabar.kz that a special facility in Kostanai Oblast has been designated for convicts sentenced to life imprisonment and for the 20 Kazakh citizens sentenced to death in 2003. The latter are covered by the moratorium. Bekbolsynov told the upper chamber that 60 percent of the Kazakh population opposes abolition of the death penalty, down from almost 70 percent in 2002.
NGOs Consider Protection Of Children`s RightsUzbek ReportTashkent, December 28: A one-week national seminar of leaders of NGOs protecting children`s rights has ended in Tashkent. The forum was dedicated to development of effective methods of NGOs` participation in realisation of the social policy aimed at creation of favourable conditions for the children`s development. Trainings on social work, identification of children`s needs and psychology of communication with them were held within the seminar. Today there are over 100 NGOs engaged in protection of children`s interests in Uzbekistan. The seminar ended with a round table dedicated to the `No child without attention` campaign. This motto was chosen by a special session of the UN Children`s Rights Committee, UzA reported.
200 Kilos Of Opium Seized At Tajik-Afghan BorderInterfaxDushanbe, December 28: Russian border guards discovered a cache containing 200.6 kilos of raw opium in a mountainous area in southeastern Tajikistan. The drugs were seized at the end of last week and delivered to the Kalai-Humb border detachment`s base, which is responsible for that part of the border, for destruction, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Border Service told Interfax on Monday. The opium, apparently of Afghan origin, had been concealed by smugglers for its further distribution in Tajikistan and other countries, the Border Service said. The Russian border guards serving at the Tajik-Afghan border have seized 5.3 tonnes of drugs, including 2.75 tonnes of heroin, in 2003.
Special Focus
Georgia: UN Peacekeeping Chief Seeks To Raise Profile Of Abhkaz ProcessOne of the first international officials to meet Georgia`s new interim leadership was the UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno. More by accident than design, the meeting still gave Guehenno a fresh chance to assert UN support for a settlement of the decade-old Abkhaz conflict.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/pp123003.shtmlRussia, US Distribute Pawns On Caucasus Chessboard After A Year Of ChangeMoscow and Washington are both deeply involved in Georgian affairs. The United States has allocated more than $3 billion in aid to Tbilisi over the past decade and has engaged in a military program to train Georgian troops in antiterrorist techniques. Washington sees stability in the region as essential to its pet projects of multimillion-dollar oil and natural-gas pipelines running from Azerbaijan to Turkey through Georgia. U.S. policymakers are also anxious to avoid new troubles in a region that borders Chechnya, which they claim serves as a training ground for Al-Qaeda militants. For Moscow too, stability south of Chechnya is a security requirement. With Russian companies now eyeing stakes in regional infrastructure and energy networks, security is also vital to its economic interests and political influence in the area.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/pp122903.shtmlGeorgia Braces for Presidential ElectionGeorgia’s provisional leadership hopes the upcoming presidential election will help legitimize its authority. Given the stakes for the interim government, the manner in which the January 4 vote is conducted may well be as important as the actual results.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav010204.shtml
Report Dated 2 January 2004 2003