At the same time , I think about the social progress , which is shared in theory and I know that in practice it is difficult to introduce , but in general , the issue of social progress is supported by the whole of your population and this is also very important . Fight against poverty – is really important and you are working on it and I saw it with my own eyes . Another , fourth , very important principle - is Deepening further the democratic reforms . Democracy , especially for you , as you come from the communism , and then you had to turn to democracy , and that , of course , was not an easy step to take . But , I think , it is important that you have in mind and you keep in mind that democracy is a work of every day and that democracy , also in my country , is always deepening itself . The number of rights which are guaranteed by democracy is always increasing and , of course , sometimes that democracy , for instance our democracy at this very moment we are speaking , is under pressure . You know that we are under pressure of terrorism and , of course , the respect for the private lives of all our citizens is also under pressure , because we need to have a bit more control and this will inevitably mean there will be less private life and more of state and government control . But , nevertheless , I think we have to deepen and to enlarge democracy and this is what you should do as well after the 25th anniversary of your Independence . Uzbekistan is a young democracy and you should also continue to deepen and strengthen your own democracy , so that much more achievements will be reached within the next 25 years . I think this is something we should call it wisdom . You made decision to make reforms step by step in a very let ’ s say prudent way . And I think it is always possible to think and to say that it is far too prudent . I think you are , of course , well put on pressure by reality . For instance , your economy , first of all , did not exist , you had nothing to start with and then you had to start to build it . It was very much state controlled and taking into account this system where you came from , probably , it was the wise thing to do and it created a maximum of prosperity for the maximum of people of Uzbekistan . In my view , now you are getting better each year . I see that your GDP is really fantastic . Its growth is about 8 % each year . This rate of growing that we should only dream of . But of course we are also in another position . Uzbekistan is very important because your country is not only vis-à-vis of your own citizens but also vis-à-vis the rest of the world is of great importance in terms of stability , because your country have neighboring countries , which are not as stable , as your country . I do understand that your country does whatever it can do to stay at that stability , taking into account that there are many threats coming from all over , in terms of religiously inspired terrorism but also some other elements . Your country during many centuries has been on the Silk Road and you had influences from everywhere and that was very important . That is also one of the elements through which in history your country had become very prosperous and I am quite sure you will stay very prosperous country . In my view what you are trying to do in the international level is very important in the sense that the whole world needs stability in that region where you have such a neighboring country as Afghanistan . So Uzbekistan needs to be very concrete factor of stability within the region . To that end you can make sure that you stay an element of stability within this stabilized region . You can ’ t underestimate in fact the importance of that element because it will have the influence on your stability within the country . If you have problems coming from abroad it will certainly have influence upon your own citizens and it will have an influence upon your economy and on your democracy and on everything . So , make sure that it stays like that . You can ’ t also underestimate the element of human rights . At the same time there is a common interest because it is very important that there is freedom of religion and I know you have a dominantly Muslim citizens , but whoever comes to your country being Christian , being Jew or having no religion find a place in your society . I know that you have a very good working system named with a very difficult word in your language ( Mahalla ) with the aim of organizing the dialogue within the citizen on local level . We wish the very best to the people of Uzbekistan , we wish them , first of all , economic prosperity , which is the first priority everywhere . It will lead to prosperity of your citizens and that is the first thing I wish to all of you in Uzbekistan . Secondly , I wish you an enlarged and deepened democracy on your 25th anniversary of independence . I hope that you will continue to be very stable country in a region which is facing great difficulties by elements you can ’ t control . We must try to have a democracy with respect for human rights , prosperous democracy and at the same time keeping stability . We have good relationship , although we have differences of course , and that is normal to have differences , but we respect each other and we should continue to cooperate . I hope that with the view of the 25th Anniversary of the Independence of Uzbekistan the next 25 years will be more prosperous on the path of your democratic development and I wish that the relationship between our two countries will get much more better , than it is already today .
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