Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 10 June 2020, the US State Department published its next report on religious freedom for 2019, which assesses the state of religious freedom in the world.

The document is published annually and on its basis the US Secretary of State makes a decision to classify a state as a list of “countries of particular concern”.

Introducing the report, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo emphasized the priority importance of religious freedom in the US foreign policy agenda and assessed the situation in several countries.

Speaking about positive trends in the field of religious freedom, the head of the State Department separately noted the progress made by Uzbekistan.

“Serious steps have been taken in Uzbekistan to improve the situation with religious freedom, and these steps are continuing. “I had a wonderful conversation with religious leaders when I was in this country at the beginning of the year,” said Michael Pompeo.

“We have not recorded a single case of law enforcement raids against unregistered religious groups in 2019, compared with 114 such raids in 2018 and 240 a year earlier. These are great successes, real progress,” the US Secretary of State emphasized.

Speaking separately on special missions in the field of religious freedoms, Samuel Brownback also emphasized that due to progress, Uzbekistan was excluded from the list of countries of particular concern in the field of religious freedoms.

In December 2018, the head of the State Department officially removed Uzbekistan from this category by his decision, thereby recognizing the country's significant progress in ensuring freedom of religion.

Commenting on the announcement of the report, Nadine Maenza, deputy chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, noted that not many states are taking the same measures as Uzbekistan to ensure freedom of religion. “It is gratifying to see the recognition of the progress and achievements of Uzbekistan by the head of the Department of State,” said Nadine Maenza.

Elizabeth Clark, Deputy Director of the International Center for Legal and Religious Studies at Brigham Young University, who is actively involved in the development of a new bill on freedom of conscience and religious organizations, also praised Uzbekistan's achievements in this area. “Uzbekistan really deserves attention for the efforts made to ensure religious freedom,” said Professor Clark.