Thank you Mr Chair.
First, I would like to welcome Ambassador Karttunen to the Permanent Council. Thank you to you and your team for your report, and for your informative presentation.
Chair, the United Kingdom has continued to build our relationship with Uzbekistan and is committed to supporting the government in carrying out its wide-ranging reforms. Last year our governments signed a joint declaration covering all aspects of the bilateral relationship, and this year we have signed an agreement on expanding our cooperation on Critical Minerals. We look forward to further cooperation in the coming years.
We welcome the close cooperation between the Government of Uzbekistan and the Project Coordinator and commend the Project Coordinator’s work across the three dimensions.
In the first dimension, we welcome the work the Project Coordinator is doing on border security. We were pleased to be able to support this effort by facilitating training for the Customs Committee of Uzbekistan last year by Surrey Police aimed at strengthening the capacity of Uzbek instructors to effectively use dogs in detecting drugs, cash, and firearms.
In the second dimension, we commend the work of the Project Coordinator on climate change and water management, and we are proud donors to the OSCE project on “strengthening responses to security risks from climate change in Central Asia”. We recognise the particular vulnerabilities Central Asian states have to climate change and its consequences. That is why we are funding a regional programme to improve Central Asia’s resilience and sovereignty by strengthening regional cooperation on water and energy to deliver low carbon and climate resilient growth.
And in the third dimension, we note the positive steps taken – as identified by ODIHR and the RFoM – in the draft information code. These include a ban on censorship and media monopolisation, and the requirement for free access to and use of information for everyone without discrimination. We encourage the Government of Uzbekistan to address concerns raised about concentrating media regulation under the government rather than an independent regulatory body, and the broad grounds for restricting content and suspending media activities.
In closing, let me thank you Ambassador Karttunen and your dedicated team in Uzbekistan for their efforts in upholding the principles of the OSCE and ensuring your important work continues – particularly in light of the considerable challenges caused by the continued non-agreement of the Unified Budget.
Thank you.
