[President Karimov made an opening statement and then gave the floor to the Secretary-General.]
SG: Thank you very much, Mr.President. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. As the President indicated, we had a wide range of discussions. We touched on the question of the fight against terrorism, developments in the region, water management, the Aral Sea and what needs to be done by the region and the international community to deal with the environmental impact of that. We talked about good governance and cooperation between the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the government. We talked about UN-Uzbek relations. They are good and we would want to strengthen them further. And for me, this is very important visit. I am here ten years after your independence and this is my first visit to the region since the region became independent and I am visiting all the five Central-Asian countries to see for myself the developments, the efforts you are making to develop and stabilize your region. It is not easy for countries to go through transition and transform their economies. And so I have come to speak to the leaders, to see, to learn, to listen and to discuss together what we can do to be even more helpful. Thank you.
And as the President said, over the weekend I'll have the opportunity of visiting Samarkand and Bukhara. Your country has a wonderful history and I'm happy to be able to come to visit some of the sites, have such important discussions with the President and to meet, I hope, some Uzbeks.
Q (1st TV channel, Akhborot programme): Your Excellency, it is known that Uzbekistan put forward a number of initiatives within the United Nations with regard to the fight against international terrorism, drug trafficking, and fundamentalism, Aral Sea. My question is, to what extent these initiatives were supported by Member States and how would you evaluate the present state of these initiatives?
SG: As I mentioned earlier, we have discussed the Aral Sea and the need for a regional approach and the international community to support [that] and we also discussed what collectively we can do to tackle the environmental degradation and the environmental impact and, above all, the impact it has had on lives of millions of people.
On the question of terrorism, we did discuss terrorism, not just in this region but around the world and what needs to be done to counter it. Here, the United Nations is fully engaged and the Security Council through its resolution 1373 is urging all governments to work together in strict cooperation to contain and eliminate terrorism. And that resolution requires that governments do not give financial support, nor logistical support, nor haven to terrorists. And if we all pooled our efforts and continue to work in this manner, we will be able to deprive the terrorists of their opportunities. And, of course, the Security Council has demanded that governments report to the Council on their activities and measures they are taking to contain terrorism, and that effort continues. I think it is a true that with this sort of international cooperation we will succeed in containing the terrorists. Yes, in some situations military action has been used but I think in the longer term it is actions across borders and cooperation and information sharing by governments and coordination of their police and security forces that will do the trick.
Q (Reuters): Mr. Secretary-General, President Chirac speaking today in Beirut about the Iraq crisis said the world had to resist what he called 'temptations of adventure'. Is the world at a risk of succumbing to temptations of adventure and what is your latest assessment of deliberations between the UN members over the Iraq crisis?
SG: I think this is an issue that we all take seriously. The Security Council and the entire membership of the United Nations, as evidenced by the debate going on in the Council right now where the vast majority of the membership spoke and expressed their views. I think, at the end of the day, the Council will act, will take an optimal decision, the decision I that suspect will strengthen the hands of the inspectors and the disarmament effort, sending the inspectors in and demand that Iraq cooperates. And I think it is important that Iraq cooperates and does not continue to defy the international community. Were it to do that, the Council will meet again or the Council will have to decide what further measures to take. But I think it is an issue that the entire international community is seized [with] and I hope the Council will act in unity, in unison and come up with an optimal decision.
Q (BBC world service): I have a question please for the Secretary-General. Did you discuss the human rights situation in Uzbekistan during your meeting and should the international community be increasing assistance to the countries with such a track record without first seeing real and sustained improvements? Thank you.
SG: Assistance to governments, in terms of institution building, human rights development, establishing the right regulatory system and the right laws is fact becoming one of our key activities in the UN, particularly through the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and also the UN Development Programme. And in the discussions I had with the President, we did agree that the relationship between the government and the High Commissioner's office will be strengthened. As you know, I have appointed a new High Commissioner, Mr.Sergio Vieira de Mello. And I am sure he looks forward to work with the government. The government has also been kind enough to invite human rights Rapporteur for Torture, who we expect will be visiting the country shortly, as soon as dates and arrangements have been made. So we will work with this government as we are working with others in strengthening human rights. But of course it also requires education at the school level and among the population. And I hope we can also make the Universal Declaration of Human Rights available to all and we would also try to do it in local languages.
Q (RIA-Novosti): Can you tell us your opinion on the position of Russia with regard to the Iraq problem?
SG: I don't speak for Russia. But let me say that Russia is fully engaged with other members of the Security Council, particularly with the permanent members in intensive discussions to find a way out of the current crisis surrounding the Iraqi issue. And I spoke to Foreign Minister [Igor] Ivanov recently about the resolutions under discussion and they are playing an active and their full role. And as I said I expect the Council to approve the resolution within the next week or so.