During the past week there was observed further development of political and socio-economic relations of the Republic of Uzbekistan with foreign partners.

The International Development Association and the International Monetary Fund have issued a joint staff advisory note (JSAN) of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for the Republic of Uzbekistan, prepared jointly by the staffs of the World Bank and the IMF.

Tashkent met [the World Bank Regional Vice President] Shigeo Katsu. The purpose of the visit to Uzbekistan was to give an official start to consultations on a new Country Assistance Strategy for this country and to discuss the progress and plans for further cooperation between the World Bank and the government of Uzbekistan.

Construction will hopefully start this year on two railways linking China's westernmost Xinjiang with the central Asian nations of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Xinhua reported quoting sources with the regional government of Xinjiang.

With maritime and inland waterways traffic on the increase, enhanced cooperation is needed to meet security and environmental concerns. That is the challenge facing participants of the OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum, which opened in Vienna on 28 January.