Uzbekistan, 2012

Allow me very brief ly

to address what are, in our opinion, some of the most

important items on the agenda of this session of the

General Assembly. First of all, today, in this century

of globalization and rapidly changing situations and

growing tensions and confrontations in many regions

of the world, we need to come up with unconventional

and extraordinary responses to crisis situations and

wars that have been ongoing for many decades and are

therefore persistent features of our agenda.

To our great regret, instead of seeking to deeply

understand emerging problems and confrontations in

one region of the world or another and addressing them

in a timely manner, finding their true origins or focusing

the international community on preventing them from

growing into large-scale crises and wars, the world

is letting its most precious resource — time — slip

through its fingers. That leads, of course, to enormous

costs and the waste of other precious resources. Let me

offer a few examples.

As early as in 1993, President Karimov of the

Republic of Uzbekistan, when he spoke before the

forty-eighth session of the General Assembly (see

A/48/PV.6), drew the international community’s

attention to the need to immediately resolve the situation

in Afghanistan, given the close connection between

regional and global security, the need to respect the civil

and religious rights of the people of Afghanistan and the

need to prevent the conflict from growing into a full-

scale civil war. Otherwise the problems in Afghanistan

would turn into a painful and bitter issue of concern

to the international community as a whole. Difficult

problems may resurface when the imminent withdrawal

of the International Security Assistance Forces from

Afghanistan occurs by late 2014 and the responsibility

for ensuring stability in the country is turned over to

the newly created Afghan National Security Forces. It

is obvious today that that turn of events may lead to a

stand-off between opposing forces in Afghanistan itself

and in neighbouring countries. It may also lead to the

growth of extremism and radicalism, cause a surge in drug trafficking and aggravate tensions in the region

as whole.

As the situation is unfolding, the best way to

address the situation in Afghanistan is to establish a

contact group under the auspices of the United Nations

with the participation of the country’s neighbours,

the United States, NATO and the Russian Federation.

The principal goal of such efforts should be to reach a

compromise and an agreement between the opposing

forces and form a coalition Government on that basis.

Such a coalition Government could be comprised of

the core ethnic, national and religious groups involved

in the military and political stand-off taking place in

Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan has suggested that approach a number

of times, for example, at the NATO summits in

Bucharest in 2008 and in Chicago this year, as well as

at the High-level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium

Development Goals held in New York in 2010 (see

A/65/PV.3). The Republic of Uzbekistan has always

conducted, and will always maintain, a friendly, good-

neighbourly policy towards its neighbour Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan has built its relationship with Afghanistan

on a bilateral basis, taking into account the national

interests of both countries and respecting the Afghan

people’s choice in terms of the future of their country.

Today, Uzbekistan offers comprehensive forms of

assistance to Afghanistan so that it may return once

again to peace. Specifically, we have contributed

to the construction of bridges, motorways and the

strategic Khairaton-Mazar-e-Sharif railroad link,

which connects Afghanistan with the States of Central

Asia, as well as providing an uninterrupted supply

of electricity to Kabul. Uzbekistan plays a key role

in ensuring the stable and effective operation of the

northern distribution network.

Secondly, climate change and the global

deteriorating ecological situation have made ensuring

the reasonable and rational use of water resources the

most acute problem of the modern world. Increasing

shortages of fresh water, which is needed to provide

food security and protect human life, serve to confirm

that assertion. In that connection, I would like to

present the Republic of Uzbekistan’s main approach to

addressing those issues, which are of vital importance

for all the States of Central Asia.

We believe that all water and energy issues in our

region, where the largest transboundary rivers — the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya — are the main sources

of water and life for the millions of people residing

near them, should be addressed in accordance with

the universally recognized norms of international law

provided for in the 1992 United Nations Convention on

the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses

and International Lakes and the 1997 United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of

International Watercourses.

Those instruments require adherence to the

principle of doing no harm to the environment or to

the interests of neighbouring States when exploiting the

resources of transboundary rivers.

It is therefore reasonable that Uzbekistan calls for

those principles and standards to be our guides in the

search for mutually acceptable compromise decisions

on water use. We believe that all hydropower facility

construction projects in the upper waters of the Syr

Darya and Amu Darya basins should be evaluated by

international experts under the auspices of the United

Nations and agreed to by the downstream countries.

Only after such agreement and coordination should

construction begin on two proposed dams, which

are practically the largest in the world, namely, the

350-metre-high Rogun hydropower station in the upper

waters of the Amu Darya and the 275-metre-high

Kambarata 1 station in the upper waters of the Syr

Darya. Furthermore, that construction has to be carried

out in mountainous terrain where seismicity levels can

reach 9 to 10 points on the Richter scale.

To comply with international requirements, it is

essential to set priorities for water use. The region’s

limited water resources must first be used to meet

drinking and sanitary needs, and only after that to

ensure food security and to meet ecological demands

and the needs of the industry and power sectors.

Thirdly, Uzbekistan remains committed to

preserving peace, stability and security in the region.

That principled position is stipulated in the Republic of

Uzbekistan’s position paper on foreign policy activity,

formulated on the initiative of the Head of State of

Uzbekistan. In particular, the document includes the

following important provisions.

First, the Republic of Uzbekistan reserves the right

to enter into alliances, join commonwealths and other

inter-State establishments, as well as to leave them,

guided by the supreme interests of the State, the people,

their well-being and security, the priority guidelines for modernizing the country, existing national legislation

and international obligations that have been assumed.

The paper continues, stating that Uzbekistan maintains

a peace-loving policy, does not participate in military-

political blocs, and reserves the right to leave any

inter-State body if the latter is transformed into a

military-political bloc. Next, the Republic of Uzbekistan

will take political, economic and other measures to

prevent its involvement in military conflicts or hotbeds

of tension in adjacent States and will not allow the

deployment of foreign bases and facilities on its own

territory. Next, the armed forces of the Republic of

Uzbekistan will not participate in military operations

abroad. Finally, the main priority concern of the foreign

policy of Uzbekistan is the region of Central Asia,

where the country’s crucial interests lie.

The problems of Central Asia must be addressed

by the countries of the region without interference

from external Powers. Uzbekistan remains committed

to pursuing an open, friendly and pragmatic policy

towards its immediate neighbours, and proceeds from

a position that all outstanding political, economic and

ecological problems of the region should be addressed

on the basis of the mutual consideration of interests,

constructive dialogue and the norms of international

law.

We set great store by the United Nations as a

universal structure and the only worldwide, universally

accepted body capable of ensuring security, stability

and consistent development, including in our region.

Uzbekistan stands ready to continue to cooperate

effectively with the Organization and its specialized

bodies in order to achieve those high and noble goals.