Uzbekistan has been appointed chairman of the Economic and Environmental Committee of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in 2020, the Foreign Ministry said.

From 2017 to 2019, the committee was headed by Kazakhstan.

Ambassador Sherzod Asadov, Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan to the OSCE, became the head of the committee.

The decision was made as part of a special meeting of the Organization’s Permanent Council, during which the current Chairman-in-Office of OSCE, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, presented the priorities for the chairmanship in 2020.

The Economic and Environmental Committee oversees a wide range of issues of cooperation and security in the economic and environmental fields in the OSCE area, including anti-corruption issues, energy and food security, transport and logistics, migration, the development of information and communication and green technologies.

As noted, the chairmanship of Uzbekistan in the Economic and Environmental Committee of the OSCE Permanent Council is evidence of recognition by the international community of the wide range of socio-economic reforms and measures taken to improve the environmental situation in the Aral Sea region under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, strengthen trade, economic and investment cooperation, and develop transport interconnectedness and expanding the transit potential of the region.

The chairmanship of the Economic and Environmental Committee in 2020 will allow to actively promote regional and international initiatives of Uzbekistan that are consistent with the goals and principles of the OSCE and will contribute to deepening cooperation with the organization in terms of supporting the reform agenda in the country, the ministry said.

Head of the United Kingdom's Delegation to the OSCE Neil Bush, was appointed Chairman of the Security Affairs Committee, and Czech Permanent Representative to the Organization Ivo Sramek was appointed Head of the Human Rights Committee.