Uzbekistan interested in stable future of Afghanistan - Foreign Minister

ASTANA. December 1. KAZINFORM /Maria Peshkova/ Making a speech at the OSCE Summit Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Vladimir Norov dwelled on the Afghan problem, which is immediately related to providing stability and security in the region.

"Taking into account the historical experience, Uzbekistan builds and shall build its relations with its close neighbor - Afghanistan only on the bilateral basis, proceeding from mutual national interests, and does not consider it possible for itself to participate in implementation of the programs and projects adopted on the collective or bloc basis", Vladimir Norov emphasized.

"When we speak about the transit of cargos to Afghanistan through the territory of Uzbekistan, we mean only the non-military goods. I would like to underscore that Uzbekistan's participation in rendering assistance to Afghanistan remains to be rather substantial. Today practically the city of Kabul and its suburbs are fully provided with electricity at the expense of supplies from Uzbekistan", he said.

The essence and substance of the Uzbek initiative are based on the need to recognize that the problems of their own country must be resolved by Afghans themselves along with the assistance of the countries, which proceeding from their security objectives, are interested in ending the war and a stable future of Afghanistan.

The negotiations, in his opinion, must be held with all major confronting forces.