Minister of Defence of Uzbekistan Visits Poland

there are strong historic foundations for taking up closer cooperation between Poland and Uzbekistan," said Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak to Defence Minister of Uzbekistan MajGen Kabul Raimovich Berdiev, paying a visit to Poland.

Minister Siemoniak reminded that the meeting was one more opportunity for talks between both Ministries of Defence this year. He expressed thanks for "great hospitality in Uzbekistan shown to Polish delegations heading to Afghanistan". Minister Siemoniak reminded that during NATO summit in Chicago an agreement between NATO and Uzbekistan was signed that will make transit of coalition forces possible. He added that Poland is also interested in signing bilateral agreement regulating this matter.

Uzbekistan Bans Foreign Military Bases

Uzbekistan has said it will not host any foreign military bases or other military objects on its soil, Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said on Thursday before the Senate.
"There will be no foreign military bases or [military] objects in Uzbekistan," Kamilov said, adding that there would be no "operative groups" allowed either in the Central Asian country.
Uzbekistan’s lower house of Parliament in September passed President Islam Karimov's new foreign policy strategy, which rules out Tashkent’s membership in any military alliances and bans foreign military bases on Uzbek territory, Central Asian Fergana News Agency reported.
Uzbekistan, which did not have a specific foreign policy document until recently, rejects any membership in military alliances and “reserves its right to quit an interstate coalition if it turns into a military alliance,” Fergana quoted the foreign policy strategy as saying.

Uzbekistan bans foreign military bases on its land

Uzbekistan is moving to ban foreign military bases on its territory, local media reported on Thursday, ending speculation it could allow the United States to reopen a base for operations in neighboring Afghanistan.

However, some analysts said the ban might not prevent military cooperation with the United States, which could still use Uzbek facilities for special-forces operations to fight the Afghan Taliban or other regional threats.
The ban is part of a major foreign-policy document proposed by President Islam Karimov, which was approved by the lower house of parliament this week. It was the first such document since Uzbekistan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and the Senate is expected to pass it this month.
Uzbekistan, a mainly Muslim Central Asian nation, evicted a U.S. military air base from Karshi-Khanabad as ties with Washington and the European Union soured following the government's suppression of an uprising in the town of Andizhan in May 2005.
Karimov, who brooks no dissent in his nation of 30 million, has since improved ties with the West, prompting speculation at home and abroad that he could allow the U.S. military to return to his country.

Uzbekistan pulls out of 'Russia's NATO'

Moscow - Ex-Soviet Uzbekistan on Thursday pulled out of a Moscow-led regional security alliance after protesting Russian plans to deploy a rapid reaction force for Central Asia near its borders.
 
The decision to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organisation comes as a blow to Russia's efforts to reassert its authority in the resource-rich region in the face a continued diplomatic and economic push from China.
 
"I confirm that the CSTO Secretariat has received a notice of Uzbekistan ending its activities in the organisation," the group's spokesman told the ITAR-TASS news agency without specifying the reason for the decision.
 
Uzbekistan is the biggest and most militarised of Central Asia's four ex-Soviet nations. It is also an important producer of natural gas that supplies Russia's state-owned giant Gazprom.
 
But it never signed on to a 2009 Russian plan to create a rapid reaction force for Central Asia that would ostensibly fight Islamic insurgents and have a base in restless southern Kyrgyzstan.
 
Uzbekistan argued that the move could only stoke regional tensions and provoke new attacks from extremist groups that have also targeted its own government in Tashkent.
 
Uzbek leaders were missing from the most recent CSTO meetings and its membership has been effectively suspended since the rapid reaction dispute emerged.
 
The organisation is sometimes referred to as Russia's answer to NATO because of President Vladimir Putin's hopes of building it up into a regional power that negotiates directly with the Western military bloc.
 
The group includes the other three Central Asian countries and Armenia along with Belarus.