The Russian presence in Uzbekistan has not been interrupted, said on Thursday (12 December) Uzbek President Islam Karimov in an interview with ITAR-TASS on the sidelines of a session of the Uzbek parliament. "Russia has been present here for 150 years. Russia's role and importance is great in the region. More, it can be said that Russia has fused with the Central Asian region," noted the Uzbek leader who "positively described the level of relations between Uzbekistan and Russia". "There is not a single insoluble problem in our political, trade and economic, the more so cultural relations," he noted. Discussing the future of Uzbek-Russian contacts, Karimov expressed hope "that our relations will have clear, good and predictable prospects in the coming year 2003". (ITAR-TASS)