Interethnic and interreligious harmony , guarantee of stablity
Today our main achievement , our greatest wealth is mentality of our people , their belief in the way of development that we have chosen , as well as friendship between the peoples , civil consent and peace prevailing in our country .
Islam Karimov President of the Republic of Uzbekistan
The Republic of Uzbekistan is a country with multiethnic and multifaith population . More than 130 nationalities now live in Uzbekistan . From the first days of the independence , the country has been following a policy of interethnic accord and religious tolerance among all nationalities living nationwide . Uzbekistan has always been considered one of the world ’ s civilization centers , a place of a century-old interchange of many cultures . Culture of the Uzbek people has not only absorbed their positive experience , but has also enriched them to a large extent , and stimulated the further development . One of the unique features of Uzbekistan is not so much in its multi-ethnicity , but in the fact that the representatives of nations and nationalities live as one nation , one family , maintaining their own identity . The adherence of our multinational people to universal values is the ground for democratic and legal development . The great care and attention of the leader of the country to interethnic relations led to the establishment of the Republican International Cultural Center ( Intercenter ) in 1992 . Today Intercenter co-ordinates the activity of the more than 140 national cultural centers working on the territory on Uzbekistan . The main objectives and tasks of Intercenter are : 1 ) to improve interethnic relations to meet the national-spiritual demands of representatives of the different nationalities living in Uzbekistan ,
2 ) to render practical and methodical assistance to the cultural centers in the preservation and development of national customs and traditions , 3 ) to strengthen international solidarity . Today representatives of all nationalities living in the country enjoy equal rights and the many possibilities provided to them by the Constitution and laws of independent Uzbekistan and live in peace and accord . Being certain of the future , they work in different fields of the national economy , including scientific and cultural spheres , and make their contribution to the prosperity of their Motherland . In the conditions of sovereign development Uzbekistan carries out consistent and systemic democratic reforms that ensure the country ’ s integration into the global community . This is evidenced by the accession of Uzbekistan to the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Faith of 30 August 1997 . In a short period of time Uzbekistan has gained a new face of political life , which enabled the development of self-consciousness of the nation . The diversity of combination of the interests of all national and ethnic groups living in Uzbekistan is obvious . Considering it as their homeland , resident representatives of different nationalities make an important contribution to the strengthening of the country ’ s independence and building of a democratic state . Broad and free participation of all ethnic groups in the state , economic and cultural life of Uzbekistan are guaranteed by the Constitution , which implies that the people of Uzbekistan are all its citizens , regardless of nationality . The right of every person for professing any religion or no religion is guaranteed by the Constitution of Uzbekistan and the Law ‘ On the freedom of Conscience and religious organizations ’. Representatives of different nationalities have broad opportunities to study their
38