15.05.2024

On May 15, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev received Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov, who is visiting our country to participate in the first meeting of the Regional Expert Council on Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Returnees.

At the beginning of the meeting, Vladimir Voronkov conveyed to the Head of Uzbekistan sincere greetings and best wishes from the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres.

Issues of further development of practical cooperation between Uzbekistan and UN institutions and structures, primarily in the area of combating terrorism and other transnational challenges and threats were considered.

Vladimir Voronkov thanked the Leader of our state for supporting the activities of the Counter-Terrorism Office and expressed special gratitude to the Uzbek side for the practical implementation of the initiative to launch the Regional Expert Council. The successful results of the first meeting of this unique mechanism in Tashkent were noted.

The UN Under-Secretary-General also commended Uzbekistan’s efforts to return, rehabilitate and reintegrate citizens from conflict zones into society, including by making full use of the potential and opportunities of the makhalla.

The signing of the updated “Roadmap” between Uzbekistan and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office for 2024-2025, which provides for new areas of cooperation, was welcomed.

Special attention was paid to the issues of implementing joint measures aimed, inter alia, at protecting young people from the destructive influence of extremism and terrorism ideas, expanding cooperation in the field of training and organizing internships for young specialists in UN institutes.

The sides exchanged views on the problem of Afghanistan. They stressed the importance of increasing international attention to the situation in that country and of continuing to provide humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people.