Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 30 May this year, the First Deputy Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis Sadiq Safoev met with the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) office in Uzbekistan, Lianna Kuppens.

During the meeting, the current state and prospects for deepening cooperation between WHO and Uzbekistan were discussed.

Kuppens emphasized the scale of transformations and reforms in Uzbekistan aimed at improving health, reducing morbidity, successfully vaccinating the population during a pandemic, and improving the environmental situation in the Aral Sea region.

In turn, Safoev dwelled on the work done in accordance with the initiatives and instructions of the head of state in the Aral Sea region, changes and the current situation. In particular, it was noted that the announcement by the UN General Assembly on 18 May 2021 of the Aral Sea region as a zone of environmental innovations and technologies is the result of the work carried out in the Aral Sea region.

In particular, since 2018, in order to prevent the spread of millions of tons of dust and toxic salts from the bottom of the dried Aral Sea, desert plants have been planted on an area of 1.5 million hectares. It was noted that this year it is planned to create green areas of another 100,000 hectares of trees.

Lianna Kuppens noted that WHO fully supports the ongoing work to improve the health of the population of the Aral Sea region.

Following the meeting, the parties agreed to continue mutually beneficial cooperation.