OSCE talks about partnership ties with Uzbekistan

By Trend

The OSCE-Uzbekistan relationship has improved to historically high levels in the past few years, OSCE Project Co-Ordinator in Uzbekistan, Ambassador John MacGregor told Trend in an interview.

As he said, relationship has improved helped by high level visits to Tashkent and Samarkand especially in 2019, including the highest level Chairperson-in-Office and other top officials such as the Secretary General, and 20 OSCE Ambassadors who were permanent representatives of their States to the OSCE in Vienna.

“At the same time, senior Uzbekistan Government officials have fully represented Uzbekistan at OSCE bodies, including at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Ministerial Council, and Permanent Council. It is noteworthy that Deputy Foreign Minister Sherzod Asadov had received the highly prestigious appointment as Chairman of the OSCE’s Economic and Environmental Committee during his final year as Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the OSCE in Vienna,” said MacGregor.

He stressed that the excellent relationship has allowed for excellent co-operation and collaboration on joint Uzbekistan-OSCE projects across many areas of government and society.

“Just to mention a few, those have included Justice reform, combating corruption, dealing with transnational threats such as illicit drugs, cyber threats, terrorism, and trafficking in persons, developing a new Electoral Code, promoting Young Women in Tech, support to improving digitalization of the economy and improving open data ecosystems,” said MacGregor.

According to John MacGregor, a common theme of the projects is that they are consistent with national priorities and with OSCE commitments, and they are all benefit the people of Uzbekistan.

“Finally, it is important to note that, in Uzbekistan, the OSCE projects are carried out by a dedicated team of 35 national staff, many of whom have more than 15 years of experience with the OSCE. In fact, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan has the smallest number of international staff, only four, of any OSCE field operation,” MacGregor pointed out.