Badriddin Obidov, who earlier served as the Uzbek Ambassador to Latvia, has been appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade in charge of Uzbekistan’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Ministry of Foreign Trade said.

There is no predesignated list of persons registered for extremism in Uzbekistan. There are no such lists, Deputy Prosecutor General Erkin Yuldashev said at the International Press Club meeting Tuesday, answering the question of how many people in Uzbekistan are still on the so-called black list.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, by his Dec. 18 decree, approved the concept and program of measures aimed at preventing non-communicable diseases, supporting healthy lifestyles and increasing the level of physical activity of the public for 2019-2022.

The Uzbek Embassy to the United States at a round table in Toronto signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association (CERBA), the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.

The Cabinet of Ministers issued a decree on December 15 easing the rules for goods transit through the territory of Uzbekistan. The decree decreases to 5 days the timeframe during which transit vehicles must leave the country from the date of entering.

The Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov arrived in the Kyrgyz Republic to attend the second meeting of the Council of Heads of Border Provinces of Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.

On December 14, upon arrival from the Kashkadarya province, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev hosted at the Tashkent airport the visiting Director General of the International Labor Organization Guy Ryder.

Powers of MPs will be expanded in Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyayev announced at the extraordinary session of the Kashkadarya province deputies council during his visit to Kashkadarya province.

The First Deputy Foreign Minister Ilhom Nematov yesterday met with the Director General of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Guy Ryder, the Foreign Ministry said.

Today, Shavkat Mirziyoyev departed for the Kashkadarya province to get acquainted with the progress of the instructions given earlier, the presidential press service said.

President of Uzbekistan signed a decree on December 12 establishing the State Committee for Industrial Safety of Uzbekistan ​​ in place of the State Authority for Supervision of subsoil geological exploration, safe performance of works in the industry, mining and offsector under the Cabinet of Ministers.

The house of the mayor of Tashkent’s Chilanzar district, Sarvar Makhametov was burgled on December 5, with the Yunusabad district police department initiating a criminal case under Large Scale Theft of 500 times the minimum wage (MW=200,000 soums, or US$ 25) or Over of the Criminal Code, the Prosecutor General’s Office said.

The U.S. State Department placed Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, as Countries of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for having engaged in or tolerated ”systematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations of religious freedom”.

Delegation of the International Labor Organization (ILO), headed by the Director-General Guy Ryder will visit Uzbekistan on December 13, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.

Islam Karimov Jr., who is currently residing in London, UK, posted a statement on his Instagram page that his mother Gulnara Karimova was ready to support the new development of the country.

Uzbek Deputy PM Aziz Abdukhakimov hosted the regional director for CIS and Russia at Lufthansa Ronald Schultz, who told he had arrived in Uzbekistan to explore the possibility of resumption of Lufthansa flights to Uzbekistan, with the company intending to shift its Frankfurt-Baku-Ashgabat flight to Frankfurt-Baku-Tashkent. In this case, initially, the German air company is reportedly planning to operate three flights a week.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev today hosted U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and Deputy Assistant to the U.S. President, Senior Director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council Lisa Curtis, the presidential press service said.

Draft Investments and Investment Activities Bill, developed pursuant to the President’s Measures to Fundamentally Improve Uzbekistan’s Investment Climate Decree of August 1, 2018 has been published on the Draft Legal Documents Discussion Portal.

Seven man-made reservoirs of 45 million cubic meters total storage capacity will be created in Uzbekistan, the move being aimed at reclamation of rainfed lands, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev stated in congratulatuary mesaage to agricultural workers.

On December 10, the Uzbek Foreign Minister, Abdulaziz Kamilov hosted a US delegation led by U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.