The Uzbek envoy said that such steps will promote strengthening of regional and global security. Askarov recalled that the nuclear-free-zone in Central Asia was created on the initiative of the Uzbek President Islam Karimov and stated at the 49th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2003.

Askarov said that the Central Asian nuclear-free-zone is the fifth such zone in the planet and the first in northern hemisphere. He attracted attention to that fact that the region neighbours with two states, which possesses nuclear weapon.

Central Asia is one of the most densely populated regions of the world, where population lives in vulnerable conditions in every respect of oases and suffers from various natural cataclysms, he said.

The Uzbek Ambassador welcomed the initiatives of Russia and the US in the field of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. He expressed hope that the initiatives will create universal, transparent and fair system of nuclear non-proliferation, which would guarantees peaceful and sustainable to future negotiations.