The Senate of Uzbekistan passed the Bill Ratifying the Uzbek-Russian Intergovernmental Agreement on Mutual Use of Military Airspaces of the Two Countries Thursday.

The Uzbek Senate  passed the Approval of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan Bill at the 18th plenary meeting on Thursday. The bill unites the existing norms regulating the preparation and conduct of elections of the president, deputies of the Legislative Chamber, members of the Senate, deputies of provincial, district and city councils of deputies, and also establishes guarantees ensuring the free will of citizens.

February 26, 2019--U.S. Department of State South and Central Asian Affairs Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Ambassador Alice Wells and Foreign Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov led a successful session of the U.S.-Uzbek Annual Bilateral Consultations in Tashkent. Ambassador Wells and Foreign Minister Kamilov highlighted the strong momentum in the U.S.-Uzbek relationship, building on the historic visit of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the United States in May 2018 and his meeting with President Donald Trump, which ushered in a new era of strategic partnership between their two countries.

The twelfth edition of Sharq Taronalari music festival will be held August 26-30, 2019 in Samarkand. The festival will feature scientific-practical conference entitled Prospects for development of traditional musical art of the peoples of the East, with the participation of prominent local and foreign scholars of musicology and professionals, as well as researchers with their reports.

On February 26, the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev hosted Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Ambassador Alice Wells, who arrived to attend the next round of Uzbek-American political consultations, the presidential press service said.

The launch ceremony of the Judicial Reform in Uzbekistan Program took place yesterday in Tashkent, the Uzbek Ministry of Justice said. It will be implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of Justice.

The sixth round of political consultations held between the foreign ministries of Uzbekistan and Spain were held today in Tashkent.

About 410 thousand trees are planned to be planted in Tashkent city this spring, the Tashkent mayor’s office said in a statement.

An explosion which occurred today at about 10:26 in a boiler house in Andijan's central clinic left injured 18 pupils of 9^th grade, who were undergoing medical examination, the Ministry of Health said.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev today held a telephone conversation with the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the Uzbek presidential press service said.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the Measures Aimed at Improving Uzbekistan’s Position in Global Rankings and Indices Decree. The document highlights the absence in Uzbekistan of a “holistic assessment system of compliance of reforms with international criteria and standards.”

The General Secretary of the World Customs Organization (WCO), Kunio Mikuriya will visit Uzbekistan on March 5-7, the Foreign Ministry said.

Two units of the main large-sized process equipment weighing 550 and 350 tons each have arrived in Uzbekistan for Uzbekistan GTL project in Kashkadarya province, the Ministry of Energy said.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Ambassador Alice Wells will travel with a delegation to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and Tashkent, Uzbekistan on February 25-28.

The deputy chairman of the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan/chairman of judicial board on administrative cases, Bahodir Dehqonov, was arrested in his office yesterday, a source in the Tashkent police department told the Tashkent Times not elaborating on the reasons of the arrest.

“All-round cooperation with foreign partners in the field of defense is expanding. Strategic partnership ties are being established and maintained with interested countries based on Uzbekistan’s long-term national security interests and ensuring stability in the region,” the Uzbek Minister of Defense, Major General Bahodir Kurbanov said at the Central and South Asia Chiefs of Defense Conference of in Tashkent.

UNDP, the Global Environment Facility, together with the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Ecology and Environmental Protection (Goskomecology), are planning to develop and establish a Biodiversity Conservation Information Management System (BCIMS). At the same time, Biodiversity of Uzbekistan Resource Center – open internet portal will be created.

The Permanent Mission of Uzbekistan to UNESCO refutes information spread by media about the preparation of a draft document on excluding the Uzbek city of Shahrisabz from the list of world heritage by the World Heritage Center (WHC) of UNESCO.

I want to thank President Mirziyoyev and the Ministry of Defense of Uzbekistan for graciously hosting the Central and South Asia Chiefs of Defense Conference. In joining U.S. Central Command in hosting this conference, Uzbekistan is taking a leadership role in advancing security and stability in Central and South Asia.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev hosted the visiting commander of the Central Command of the US Armed Forces, General Joseph Votel, who arrived in our country to attend the meeting of chiefs of general staffs of the countries of the Central and South Asia.