The Uzbek delegation led by President Islam Karimov is continuing an official visit to the USA. High-level talks were held between Islam Karimov and the US President George Bush at the White House. During the talks urgent issues related to bilateral relations were discussed, and it was noted that the visit marked a major turning point in the history of US-Uzbek relations. The presidents exchanged views on issues ranging from security to the economy and other matters of interest to them. During the talks, which were held in an atmosphere of openness, mutual trust and sincerity, issues of international importance were also considered. Another important event of today was that the heads of the Uzbek and US foreign policy departments [Abdulaziz Komilov and Colin Powell] signed a declaration on strategic partnership and the foundations of cooperation, as well as other documents. (BBC) UZBEK LEADER MEETS SENIOR US OFFICIALS, STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF AID 13 March Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who yesterday arrived in Washington on an official visit, was met by US Assistant Secretary of State [for European and Eurasian affairs] Elizabeth Jones and other officials at the US armed forces' Andrews Air Force Base. The head of our country has been accommodated at Blair House, which is the guest house of the US president. On March 12, President Islam Karimov met Ann Veneman, the US agriculture secretary. The meeting between Islam Karimov and Ann Veneman discussed further broadening agricultural cooperation between the two countries, attracting US advanced technologies to Uzbek agriculture and exchanging information in this field. The head of our country also met the chairman of the board and chief executive director of the Newmont Mining Corporation, Wayne Murdy, at Blair House. Uzbekistan and Newmont Mining have been cooperating for many years. The meeting discussed further expanding the cooperation, moulding it into a new shape and giving it new meaning, as well as taking joint actions against changes in world market prices. Islam Karimov also received US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. During the talks, the president of our country said that financial aid to Uzbekistan from such a powerful state as the United States was very important for Uzbekistan. (BBC) CHECHEN REFUGEES IN AZERBAIJAN COMPLAIN TO UN REFUGEE COMMISSION 13 March The council of the assembly of Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan has appealed to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers. In particular the appeal notes that the Azerbaijani representative office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) displayed indifference to the request of 9,000 Chechen refugees for humanitarian aid. Ignoring the international laws on granting refugee status, the UNHCR has taken a stance of pushing Chechen refugees from Azerbaijan back to Chechnya. Those who return from Azerbaijan to Chechnya die, disappear, end up in filtration camps, are crippled and have money wrung out of them. The appeal refers to a significant number of documents that prove various actions by the employees of the Azerbaijani representative office of the UNHCR. The council of Chechen refugees asks the leadership of the UNHCR to create a special commission and render aid to Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan. (Turan) NO COMPLICATION OF UZBEK-KAZAKH RELATIONS 13 March The Kazakh and Uzbek prime ministers, Imangali Tasmagambetov and Otkir Sultonov, think that the existence of a number of disputed areas on the border between the two states does not complicate Kazakh-Uzbek relations. Tasmagambetov underlined during a meeting in southern Kazakh town Shymkent on 12 March that "the border has been delimited, with 96 per cent of it being agreed". He thinks that "disputed areas are a normal phenomenon in international practice and this should not be made a problem of". Sultonov noted that there was a "clear legal basis in this area", referring to an agreement signed in November last year by the two presidents. There is now a need to carry out a detailed inventory of the disputed areas, the Uzbek prime minister stressed. (Kazakhstan Today) ARMENIA AND US DEVELOPING CONCEPTION OF MILITARY COOPERATION 12 March At the present time Armenia and the USA are developing conception and main directions of the military cooperation. US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia John Ordway has stated it today. According to him, the US Congress has approved of $ 4.3 million allotment to Armenia for military needs, "but it is early to speak about specific programs". The Ambassador has noted that the forthcoming visit of defense ministry of Armenia Serge Sarkisian to the US March 17-21 as well as the visit of his American colleague Donald Rumsfeld to Yerevan December, 2001 "are a part of the consultation process". "Several months are needed for the development of specific programs", Ordway has stated. (PanArmenian.net) AFGHANISTAN'S INTERIM PREMIER IN MOSCOW FOR TALKS ON AID 12 March Hamid Karzai arrived in Moscow late on 11 March for talks with President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials. Karzai, who is in Moscow for a three-day visit, will meet with Putin, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, and parliamentary leaders to discuss economic aid to Afghanistan. Joint efforts to fight drug trafficking and terrorism are expected to dominate the talks. "We are satisfied with close contacts between Afghanistan's leadership and Russia that allow us to jointly solve the issues of rebuilding the Afghan state," AP quoted Ivanov as saying. Russia has already contributed $12 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Yakovenko. (RFE/RL) MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS MEET WITH KARABAKH PRESIDENT 12 March Following talks in Stepanakert on 10 March with the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Arkadii Ghukasian, who is president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, praised the mediators' "constructive" work, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. But at the same time Ghukasian said the co-chairs should make a greater effort to persuade Baku to modify its "unconstructive" position. The co-chairs for their part stressed that they regard the Karabakh leadership as a key player that should be represented in the peace talks, and that seeking to exclude Stepanakert from negotiations may delay a settlement to the conflict, Noyan Tapan reported. "We will not take any steps without consulting with Nagorno-Karabakh," French co-Chairman Philippe de Sureman said. (RFE/RL) U.S. PRESIDENT AMBIGUOUS ON POSSIBLE ANTITERROR STRIKE IN GEORGIA 12 March In his 11 March address in New York, U.S. President George W. Bush vowed that while the international antiterrorism coalition will expand its operations to hit at terrorists outside Afghanistan, the U.S. military will not necessarily participate directly in all such combat operations, Reuters reported. "We will not send American troops to every battle, but America will actively prepare other nations for the battles ahead," Bush said. In Georgia, he said, "terrorists working closely with Al-Qaeda operate in the Pankisi Gorge near the Russian border," and Washington is planning to send up to 150 military trainers to prepare Georgian troops to re-establish control. In an interview with the independent TV station Rustavi-2 on 7 March, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze had said a joint Georgian-U.S. military operation in Pankisi remains an option. Parliament Defense and Security Committee Chairman Giorgi Baramidze similarly said on 12 March that the U.S. instructors should be prepared to participate in an operation in Pankisi "in the event of a provocation." (RFE/RL) U.S. SPOKESMAN FAILS TO CONFIRM GEORGIAN ALLEGATIONS OF ABKHAZ, AL-QAEDA NEXUS 12 March U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Boucher said that Washington has no evidence to substantiate claims by Georgian officials, including Baramidze and State Security Minister Valeri Khaburzania, that Al-Qaeda guerrillas are in Abkhazia. Abkhaz government in exile Chairman Tamaz Nadareishvili claimed in an interview published in "Alia" on 12 March to have lists of names of 120 Al-Qaeda guerrillas who underwent terrorism training in Abkhazia as did, he claimed, Osama bin Laden. Nadareishvili also claimed that 20 Al-Qaeda guerrillas are currently in the village of Avadkhara and another 40 in the village of Tsimuri. (Caucasus Press) TRIAL OF KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT DEPUTY RESUMES 12 March The trial of parliament deputy Azimbek Beknazarov resumed on 11 March after a one-month interval in the town of Toktogul, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Beknazarov is accused of dereliction of duty in failing to bring charges of manslaughter in 1995 against an investigator who killed a man in self-defense. Some 250 people attended the court proceedings on 11 March, including an OSCE representative and Kyrgyz Institute for Human Rights Chairman Topchubek Turgunaliev. Hundreds of people continue to participate in pickets and demonstrations across the country to demand Beknazarov's release. (RFE/RL) TURKMEN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR HALT TO OIL EXPLORATION IN CASPIAN 12 March The Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov highlighted in Ashkhabad the common stance of Tehran and Ashkhabad on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, which has yet to be determined by the five coastal states, IRNA reports. Speaking at a meeting with Iran's special envoy for Caspain Sea affairs, Mehdi Safari, the Turkmen president also stressed the need that any oil exploration in disputed regions of the inland sea must be halted. Safari is on a groundbreaking visit to Turkmenistan before a scheduled participation of President Mohammad Khatami in the forthcoming summit of the coastal states of Caspian Sea in Ashkhabad. Niyazov said that Khatami's visit to Turkmenistan was "very important", since it would help the two neighboring countries upgrade their bilateral relations. The five coastal states of the sea, namely Iran, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia, have still to come up with a formula over the legal regime of the sea to exploit its resources. Iran calls for a condominium or common sovereignty over the sea and has made it known that it considers any unilateral deals for energy exploration in the Caspian Sea as null and void before the issue of legal regime of the Caspian is settled. Iran, the official added, still believes the agreements of 1921 and 1940 between Moscow and Tehran are still valid until a new legal regime of the Caspian Sea is drawn up. (CNA) RUSSIA THINKS HER SECURITY IS THREATENED BY INFERIOR FOOD IMPORTS 12 March PRIVATERussia's dependence on food imports has increased sharply in the recent years while domestic production of farm produce has dwindled, Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Aleksey Gordeyev told the first international conference "Russia's food security" today. "Inferior quality food products have flooded the country in these conditions and this aggravates the problem of the country's security," the minister said. The aim of this conference is to work out specific proposals that could be used in drafting a doctrine of Russia's food security, Gordeyev said. (ITAR-TASS)