Please note that the editorial staff of the Tashkent Times is going on vacation and that the company office will be closed from August 23 to 31. We promise that we'll come back with fresh ideas and a new, positive attitude. We offer you our warmest greetings!

Shavkat Mirziyoyev yesterday hosted the visiting US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale, the presidential press service said in a statement.

The Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov today hosted French Ambassador Violaine Billette de Villemeur, who is ending her posting in Uzbekistan, the Foreign Ministry said.

Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov today hosted the visiting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale, the Foreign Ministry said.

U.S. Embassy Tashkent is pleased to announce the visit of the Henhouse Prowlers bluegrass band, who will represent the United States this year at the Sharq Taronalari International Music Festival in Samarkand. 

The Russian pentathlon athletes Alexander Savkin and Alise Fakhrutdinova took up the Uzbek sport nationality, the Uzbekistan Federation of Modern Pentathlon said in a statement. The Executive Committee of the International Union of Modern Pentathlon (UIPM) has allowed the two athletes to represent Uzbekistan in international competitions.

The Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov, on the sidelines of the meeting in the C5+1 format in Nur-Sultan, met with his Kazakh counterpart Beibut Atamkulov, the Uzbek Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday.

The heads of government of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will hold a meeting on October 31-November 1 in Tashkent, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said on Tuesday.

Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, David Hale to visit Uzbekistan on August 22-23, the Department of State said in a statement. He is currently in Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan, where he is meeting with senior government officials to discuss the U.S. – Kazakhstan enhanced strategic partnership and cooperation on bilateral and global issues.  While in Nur-Sultan, Under Secretary Hale and Central Asian states’ foreign ministers will hold a high-level meeting in the C5+1 format, where they will discuss joint efforts toward a better-connected, more prosperous, and more secure Central Asia.

The military contingent of seven countries, including Uzbekistan will take part in the Center-2019 strategic drills, with almost 130,000 people, over 20,000 units of military equipment and weapons and roughly 600 aircraft systems will be involved in the drills to be held between September 16 to 21, the Uzbek Ministry of Defense said in a statement.