Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 21 November  2019, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Desir, presented to the Permanent Council of the organization a report on his activities this year. It was reported by the Foreign Ministry.

In the part regarding Uzbekistan, the document notes the level of cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Agency for Information and Mass Communications under the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Uzbekistan (AIMK), substantive negotiations held by Harlem Desir with Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov during the London conference on media freedom in July years and intensive interaction with the acting AIMK Director Komil Allamdjonov.

The office’s cooperation with AIMK is emphasized on a wide range of issues, including an expert assessment of draft new laws developed by Uzbekistan in the field of media development, in particular, the draft law “On Television and Radio Broadcasting”.

The report also noted the second Central Asian judicial forum on ensuring freedom of the media in the fight against illegal content, planned by the office of Harlem Desir together with AIMK (Samarkand, February 2020).

In turn, in a response by the Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan to the OSCE, Ambassador Sherzod Asadov, detailed information was given on the large-scale reforms carried out under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the field of ensuring freedom of speech and the safety of journalists. Initiatives were also outlined for legislation in the field of media, support for bloggers and other representatives of the media, the introduction of the institution of the Ombudsman to protect the interests of the journalistic community.

The achieved level of interaction between the office of Harlem Desir, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and AIMK was especially noted. Attention was drawn to the successful holding by the Agency in Samarkand of an international “round table” on media freedom in Uzbekistan, which was attended by 20 permanent missions of the OSCE participating States.

During the meeting, the Uzbek side also gave detailed comments on certain issues and the incident in the information space of Uzbekistan, which fall under the mandate of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.