UZBEKISTAN: SENIOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS OFFER THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000445 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/16/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC PHUM ECON EINV SOCI SNAR AF UZ SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN: SENIOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS OFFER THE U.S. A WARM WELCOME, BUT LITTLE CHANGE IN SUBSTANCE - PART II REF: TASHKENT 441 Classified By: Poloff Steven Prohaska for reasons 1.4 (b, d). ¶1. (C) Summary: On March 31, A/DAS, accompanied by the Ambassador and DCM, met with Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for nearly two hours. Norov covered a wide range of topics from human rights to security and economic issues. He welcomed an invitation for his Deputy Foreign Minister Nematov to visit the U.S., but rebuffed cooperation on education below the graduate level. His overall message was that Uzbekistan wanted more cooperation, but based on a gradual process that focuses first on issues of mutual interest, such as security and counternarcotics. While he offered nothing new in substance, the length of the meeting and gestures of hospitality, such as speaking English and offering Spratlen a gift, suggested that Norov wants better relations without much give on key issues for the U.S. End summary. Meeting with Foreign Minister Norov -------------- ¶2. (C) Foreign Minister Norov opened the meeting by stating that Uzbekistan has always been ready to have a dialogue on human rights, and stated, without offering specific examples, that the human rights situation, especially with regard to religious freedom, has improved. Furthermore, when looking at the situation in Uzbekistan, he said it is important to consider the situation in other countries, including the West, he continued. "When we consider reform, we consider the interests of the local population. We are not implementing these (unspecified) reforms to showcase them for the international community," Norov said. Norov then expressed concern about a perceived double standard that was being applied to Uzbekistan, despite the fact that conditions are worse in neighboring states, such as Kazakhstan. ¶3. (C) Continuing on the human rights theme, he noted his displeasure with recent U.S. assessments of conditions in Uzbekistan, and that this does not improve bilateral relations. (Note: He was referring principally to the 2007 Human Rights Report. End note.) Norov described recent human rights reforms, including the abolition of capital punishment. He said that the GOU has been studying the criminal codes of other countries to reform the criminal code that it inherited from the Soviet Union. He claimed a lower percentage of the population in Uzbekistan is incarcerated than in Kazakhstan, Russia, or the U.S., and claimed per capita murder, rape, and robbery rates are higher in Kazakhstan. He stated that the GOU does not agree with allegations that Uzbekistan is authoritarian, and simply wants the government, NGOs, and citizens to abide by the law. A/DAS Spratlen said that the international community had serious concerns about the human rights situation in Uzbekistan concerning prisoners and hoped the International Committee of the Red Cross would be able to proceed with its six-month plan. ¶4. (C) Norov described conditions for religious freedom in Uzbekistan, stressing that the GOU does not prosecute on the basis of religious belief alone. He said millions of Muslims participate in religious ceremonies every day and there have been no problems for Jews, either. Under the Soviet Union, religious groups were worse off, he continued. "Uzbekistan's legislation forbids proselytizing," Norov said, and noted that homes cannot be used for religious ceremonies. He also said that some people had been imprisoned for distributing unlicensed Hizb-ut-Tahrir literature, and that this was a crime not just in Uzbekistan, but in neighboring countries--and should be in the UK and U.S. too, he urged. Spratlen said that religious freedom was indeed a serious U.S. concern. She expressed the hope that Ambassador Hanford would soon return to continue his dialogue with the government, but that it is important to balance protecting society with allowing law-abiding religious people to observe their faith. ¶5. (C) In response, Norov highlighted security and stability as being very important in this multi-national country. Norov pleaded for an "objective approach" to conditions in the country, and said that human rights activists have been prosecuted not because of their human rights efforts, but because of their crimes. He stressed that security and stability would lay the groundwork for economic development. ¶6. (C) Switching gears to the subject of general bilateral relations, Norov said that Uzbekistan is ready to continue an open dialogue with the United States on all issues of mutual interest, such as counterterrorism and extremism. Uzbekistan is interested in a step-by-step development of relations and cooperation, and the restoration of mutual trust. He said that Uzbekistan is particularly interested in further border security and counterproliferation cooperation. Norov stressed the role of the Uzbek/American Chamber of Commerce in economic cooperation, and said that Minister of Foreign Economic Relations Ganiev would participate in the upcoming Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) conference in Dushanbe. He cited the opening of the General Motors Uzbekistan plant as a good example for other U.S. companies to invest in the country. Spratlen said she welcomed Uzbekistan's participation in the TIFA, which offered an opportunity to address steps for improving the business environment. ¶7. (C) Norov then addressed education, highlighting the close link between education and economic growth. As with all discussions in Uzbekistan on education, this one extolled the virtures of the Uzbek system without acknowledgement of any weaknesses. Uzbekistan has developed a professional educational system with 800 colleges, he said, and is learning from the experiences of other countries including the United States. He described the importance of foreign languages to the country's schools, noting that his own English language skills had been very poor when he had led a delegation from Bukhara to the United States, but have since improved considerably. Norov also noted that Uzbekistan is planning to bring Internet access to every school in the country, not just the ones in Tashkent, and that the number of Internet users in Uzbekistan is two million and rising. He also favored direct contact between Uzbekistani and foreign universities to exchange experiences. Spratlen said that education was indeed important and asked about exchange programs, specifically work with ACCELS. Norov said Uzbekistan was not prepared to welcome ACCELS at this time as the country prefers to cooperate in education at the graduate level through Fulbright and other programs. ¶8. (C) Turning to regional security, Norov noted that the situation in Afghanistan was of concern to the GOU. He said that the production of drugs in Afghanistan has risen exponentially, and that narcotics are financing terrorism, the Taliban, and Al-Qaida. Because Uzbekistan is a neighbor of Afghanistan, it is very interested in developments there, he continued. Uzbekistan is always ready to render assistance to International Security Assistance Force operations in Afghanistan, which are critical to bolstering the authority of the Government of Afghanistan, Norov said. The accomplishments in Afghanistan so far have not been sufficient, he stated. Uzbekistan is ready to cooperate and provide assistance, which is why President Karimov is going to the NATO summit in Bucharest, Norov continued. He said that regional cooperation is important, and thus Uzbekistan has restored its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and hosts the Regional Antiterrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Norov noted that Uzbekistan is opposed to the development of the SCO as a military-political bloc, however, and so Uzbekistan had only observed the recent SCO military exercises in Chelyabinsk, Russia. He also said that Tajikistan supports Iran's membership in the SCO, but that recent SCO meetings had called for a moratorium on admitting additional members. ¶9. (C) As the meeting drew to a close, Norov switched into fluent English (later noting that he watches CNN and BBC regularly) and said it was unfortunate that the United States and Uzbekistan could only discuss these matters during short visits to one another's countries. ¶10. (C) A/DAS Spratlen raised accrediting the Human Rights Watch rep, getting a response to the Embassy's EXBS project proposals and non-paper on modalities for information-sharing and FSNs' interaction with GOU officials in implementing border security assistance projects. Norov responded these issues were under consideration, commenting on the positive value of the joint border security assistance working group held in November 2007. ¶11. (C) A/DAS also invited First Deputy Foreign Minister Nematov (Comment: whose portfolio covers the CIS and the Americas, but who has never been to the U.S. End comment.) to visit Washington. Nematov responded, why not have a meeting at the level of Nematov, explaining that the GOU had a mechanism in place for regular, more detailed political discussions with a number of countries, but not the U.S. Norov commented his hour meetings with A/S Boucher in New York (Comment: On the fringes of the UNGA. End comment.) were short. Comment: -------------- ¶12. (C) A/DAS Spratlen's visit was the highest-level U.S. civilian visitor to Uzbekistan in more than a year, and the GOU's willingness to arrange every meeting the Embassy requested illustrates the continuing value that Uzbekistan attaches to high-level visits. Judging from the similarity in views that emerged among the many senior GOU officials she met with, the GOU appears to have carefully coordinated its remarks to reinforce several key messages to the United States Government. First, the GOU wants bilateral cooperation with the United States, particularly in areas of mutual interest--such as counterterrorism, counternarcotics, other security issues, and economic cooperation--but on a gradual, "step-by-step" basis. Second, the GOU is frustrated about the perceived lack of recognition for its recent political and human rights reforms, and feels that the country has been subjected to "double standards" that have not been applied to neighboring countries. Third, GOU officials expressed an oft-repeated sentiment that Uzbekistan is trying to overcome its Soviet legacy, and that change must be gradual to minimize potential threats to domestic stability. ¶13. (C) For her part, A/DAS Spratlen welcomed the serious discussions and generally warm tone of the meeting, but made clear that the U.S. and the international community remain concerned about a set of common human rights, democracy, economic and security issues, such as prisoners, threats to activists and limits on religious freedom as well as concerns about the economy and security. We will continue to discuss ways to move forward with the government to achieve progress on dialogue that leads to a multidimensional relationship covering all areas of the bilateral relationship. ¶14. (U) A/DAS Spratlen has cleared this message. NORLAND