"Hard situations that unite people also occur in history. Such events took place in our recent history, that is, the attacks of international terrorism in Uzbekistan that took place in 1999, 2000 and 2004. We should never forget them, and we should be always vigilant. On those hard days, political awareness and political culture united our people," Goyibnazarov said.

He went on to stress the significance of political awareness and praised the Uzbek people’s political culture. Specifically, he said: "During hard times, the people united, and having rightly understood the evil purposes of those attacks, people expressed their attitude. Thus, international terrorism has been dealt a serious blow in Uzbekistan. This is vivid evidence of the fact that people have chosen their [own] path and they have their own political culture and political awareness."

Goyibnazarov also urged "further developing the ideological immunity of young people" in order to counter information attacks.

The programme also included an interview with Minhojiddin Hojimatov, head of the national spirituality centre, who praised the sense of kindness and adherence to standards of morality in Uzbek society. While noting "various attempts to damage a ’pure environment’, as well as religious and moral beliefs in Uzbekistan", Hojimatov said that the West itself needed "fresh air".

The presenter finished the programme by quoting a Greek expert as praising Uzbekistan’s policy of preserving national identity.

Source: BBC Monitoring