The United States Counts on a Progressive Dialogue with Uzbekistan
March 30th, 2008
“The United States does not have military bases in Uzbekistan and neither has it applied for their establishment in this country,” Ambassador Richard Norland said. “This issue was not on the agenda of Admiral Fallon’s visit to Tashkent this January. It is not on the agenda of the US Administration at this point. Some Americans attached to NATO or ISAF with the UN mandate have been permitted to use the German air bridge on their way to Afghanistan via Termez since January 31 but a special permit is issued in every particular episode.”
(Note that the diplomat is no longer speaking of the American advisor to the German general he previously mentioned. He talks of the Americans.)
The US diplomat mentioned the so called “progress in the human rights sphere” that allowed for certain improvement of the American-Uzbek relations.
“Promotion of human rights remains an important component of our policy with regard to Uzbekistan,” Norland said. “The Uzbek leadership made some important steps in this sphere this year and released some political prisoners [five prisoners – Ferghana.Ru]. Even more importantly, it permitted the International Red Cross to visit penitentiary establishments again. It is encouraging. We keep urging the government of Uzbekistan to take additional measures in this sphere. We are convinced that involvement of the Uzbek government in discussion of the issues on the agenda (regional security, trade, investments, cultural exchange, and human rights) is of paramount importance. It is clear that international community’s interest in and cooperation with the Uzbek authorities are better from the standpoint of positive changes than calls for isolation.”
Norland said Pamela Spratlen, acting US Undersecretary of State for South and Central Asia, is coming to Uzbekistan for negotiations with the Uzbek government later today. (Spratlen has already visited Kyrgyzstan.) Agenda of the talks will be traditional and include regional security, Afghanistan, trade, investments, cultural exchange, human rights, humanitarian contacts.
Asked about the state of affairs with the English language, Norland proclaimed it quite promising. “Language is more than an instrument of communication. It is a bridge. The Russian language is another important bridge in this region…” he said.
The American ambassador hopes that ACCELS and IREX, the organization expelled from Uzbekistan on a clearly invented excuse, will be permitted to return to this Central Asian country. (Practically all foreign non-governmental organizations were driven out of Uzbekistan in 2006.)
“As for investments, they are quite important for any economy,” Norland said. “Foreign investments are needed to make economy the leading force. American investors are always on a lookout for the regions where they may make profit. General Motors is expanding into Uzbekistan [it set up a joint venture with the Uzbeks – Ferghana.Ru news agency]. It means that General Motors expects to make money here. Some US businesses, however, are disturbed by existence of certain barriers and problems with hard currency conversion are one of them. Still, General Motors’ expansion into Uzbekistan shows that it has faith. I hope it will succeed and become the first of many US investors…”
“Our relations are improving,” Norland said. “Certain progress is undeniable. We are convinced that involvement of the Uzbek government into a dialogue will be even more productive.”
28.03.2008
Ferghana Ru
Omar Sharifov
SOURCE:Turkish Weekly
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