The Head of our state, welcoming the guest, noted with deep satisfaction the dynamically developing and strengthening mutually beneficial partnership of Uzbekistan with the UN, its structures and institutions. 

During the last period, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Ahmed Shaheed, the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization Taleb Rifai and many others have paid fruitful visits to Uzbekistan. 

The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan took part and delivered a speech at the 72nd session of the General Assembly of the Organization in September this year in New York, where also held a number of meetings and negotiations with the UN leadership.

Currently, joint activities are being carried out and projects are being implemented within the framework of the road maps adopted in our country on expanding practical cooperation with the UN. 

It was emphasized that Uzbekistan attaches great importance to deepening cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in the sphere of combating illicit drug trafficking, transnational crime and international terrorism. 

National and regional projects in these areas have been realized and are being implemented with the technical assistance of the Office. 

There is a representative office of this UN structure for Central Asia in Tashkent. 

Issues of further strengthening of cooperation and adoption of coordinated measures on combating drug trafficking, crime and terrorism on the basis of development and adoption of a joint Action Plan – the Road map for bilateral cooperation were discussed at the meeting. 

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Yury Fedotov expressed sincere gratitude to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev for the warm welcome. 

He highly appreciated the policy pursued by the Head of our state on ensuring peace, stability and sustainable development in Central Asia, strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation with the countries of the region based on the principles of good-neighborliness, mutual understanding and consideration of common interests. The relevance and timeliness of the initiatives of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan forwarded at the session of the UN General Assembly was emphasized. 

The UN representative confirmed the readiness of this authoritative international organization to develop long-term and systematic cooperation with Uzbekistan in counteracting contemporary global challenges and threats.