From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Mon Oct 16 2000 - 13:11:12 EDT
Uzbek, Ukrainian presidents issue joint statement
On 14th October Uzbekistan's official dailies published the text of the
joint statement signed in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, on 12th October
between Uzbek President Islam Karimov and visiting Ukrainian President
Leonid Kuchma. In the statement, the two states confirmed that they were
ready "to support one another regionally and internationally in confronting
challenges and threats to their stability and national security" and
pledged to develop cooperation in fighting terrorism, religious extremism,
arms and drug smuggling, illegal migration and organized crime. They
confirmed their commitment to cooperation within GUUAM, the association of
Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Moldova, and to bilateral
coperation in all spheres. Karimov and Kuchma also prolonged until the end
of 2001 the Uzbek-Ukrainian accord on helping Ukrainians deported to
Uzbekistan during the Soviet period to return home. The following is the
text of the statement, as published in the Uzbek newspaper `Narodnoye
Slovo':
Ukrainian President Kuchma paid an official visit to Uzbekistan on 12th-13th
October at the invitation of Uzbek President Karimov
During talks the two presidents discussed the present state of
Uzbek-Ukrainian relations, a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation
and the future of its further development, together with a number of
international and regional issues of bilateral interest.
The High Parties, on the basis of the need to further expand and deepen on
an equal footing comprehensive cooperation between Uzbekistan and Ukraine
which is built around the traditional friendship between the two peoples,
and acknowledging the need to work out measures aimed at setting up
mechanisms assisting the deepening of strategic partnership to suit the
requirements of the time, state the following:
1. Ties between Uzbekistan and Ukraine are progressively developing on the
principles of friendship and trust, equality and mutual benefit, and
respect for one another's sovereignty and nonintervention in one another's
domestic affairs.
2. The High Parties expressed their satisfaction with the progress of the
implementation of the agreements they reached during Uzbek President
Karimov's official visit to Ukraine on 7th-8th October 1999, of the
provisions of the accord of 19th February 1998 between Uzbekistan and
Ukraine on friendship and further strengthening comprehensive cooperation,
and also of other fundamental bilateral agreements.
3. The presidents emphasized that the level of cooperation between the two
countries corresponded to the objectives and tasks of strategic
partnership, and confirmed that their stances were unchanged in
strengthening and supporting peace, stability and steady development, which
are of fundamental importance in ensuring the sovereignty and independence
of Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
Uzbekistan and Ukraine confirmed their readiness to support one another
regionally and internationally in confronting challenges and threats to
their stability and national security.
4. The presidents stressed that deepening cooperation between the two
countries in the interests of ensuring peace, stability and security on a
regional and international scales was of basic importance and expressed
their willingness to develop cooperation in these areas on a bilateral
level and within international organizations and mechanisms of multilateral
cooperation.
5. The High Parties confirmed the need to actively employ the mechanism of
the six-plus-two group for Afghanistan, with the UN as a coordinator and
supervisor, to seek peaceful ways of settling the Afghan conflict.
6. The presidents, confirming their countries' adherence to the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty, welcomed setting up nuclear-free zones throughout
the world as a key factor of achieving the treaty's objectives, and stated
that setting up a similar zone in Central Asia was one of the most
important elements of tightening regional and global security.
7. The Ukrainian president voiced his support for the Uzbek president's
initiative to set up an international antiterrorist centre under the UN.
The Uzbek president supported the Ukrainian president's initiative to work
out an international convention on the fight against computer terrorism and
to set up in Kiev a regional ethnicity reseach centre under the aegis of
the OSCE.
8. Uzbekistan and Ukraine will also in the future develop and deepen
bilateral cooperation against terrorism, religious extremism, the illegal
arms trade, drug dealing, illegal migration and organized crime.
9. The High Parties confirmed the need to further step up bilateral
cooperation within GUUAM [Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Moldova],
on the basis of decisions adopted by GUUAM at its New York summit in
September 2000. Under the provisions of the New York memorandum, Uzbekistan
and Ukraine expressed their readiness to assist, in every possible way, the
functioning of the Europe-Caucasus-Asia transport and communications system
by developing its infrastructure and undertaking the relevant coordinated
and mutually acceptable measures to ensure its security and efficient
utilization.
It was pointed out in this respect that the GUUAM union was continuing to
play an important role in promoting and strengthening trust and security,
and was entering a new phase in its development which in essence aims to
substantially deepen economic cooperation and in particular to intensify
work on moving to free trade within GUUAM.
10. The presidents stressed the need to increase the efficiency of the
mechanism of the joint Uzbek-Ukrainian commission on comprehensive
cooperation in order to expand mutually beneficial economic and trade
links.
The sides also demonstrated mutual interest in the effective implementation
of Uzbek-Ukrainian agreements on Uzbekistan supplying natural gas to
Ukraine and on the transit of Turkmen gas to Ukraine across Uzbek
territory.
11. The presidents emphasized the importance of further promoting and
deepening mutual relations between the two countries in the humanitarian
field, and particularly in the cultural, scientific and technical areas.
They also voiced their satisfaction with Uzbek-Ukrainian cooperation within
the activities of the Ukrainian scientific and technological centre.
12. The presidents stressed the importance of the work carried out on
improving the legal foundation of bilateral relations as a result of which
it was agreed to prolong until 31st December 2001 the Uzbek-Ukrainian
accord concluded on 20th August 1998, on assisting the solution of the
issue of the citizenship of deportees who have expressed the wish to return
to Ukraine from Uzbekistan, and a number of other bilateral international
accords were also signed.
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's visit to Uzbekistan and the meeting and
talks held as part of it were held in an atmosphere of friendship, trust
and complete mutual understanding typical of relations between the two
states.
[Signed] President I. A. Karimov of Uzbekistan President L. D. Kuchma of
Ukraine
The city of Tashkent, 12th October 2000. [p1]
Source: 'Narodnoye Slovo', Tashkent, in Russian 14 Oct 00 p1
BBC Mon CAU 151000/** va/sa
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