Результаты конференции 19-sentabr | Page 47

Closing statement of the Director of Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies Vladimir Norov Here it has been said about learning the German in Uzbekistan. In this regard, I would like to deliver briefly information about the status of the German language in the Republic. In Uzbekistan, 460 thousand schoolchildren study German. On the initiative of Mr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the program “partner schools” was organized and 15 of our schools are connected to this project, 8 schools issue a “sprachediplom” which allows its holder to enter any University in Germany without an exam and study free. Today, more than 500 students from Uzbekistan study in Germany, while in the early 2000s their number was 20. Thus, it becomes clear that we are interested in teaching our specialists not only the German language, but also specialties in the field of vocational education. During today's round table, it were outspoken many interesting proposals. I suppose that, together with the Ebert Foundation, we will publish a brochure on the basis of this event. We will prepare proposals for ministries and departments so that our round table, which is dedicated to a very important issue - cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Federal Republic of Germany in ensuring Central Asia’s security and sustainable development did not only remain at this table, but found practical application. Most importantly, we organized this event on the eve of the visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to Germany and this is one of the important preparations for the visit. The visit of the State Minister Niels Annen is also aimed from this point of view. We conducted successful negotiations, during which we exchanged views on the further development of Uzbek-German cooperation. Today our cooperation is gaining momentum. We are open to partnership. Our countries have great potential and we need to make efforts. For example in the field of science and education, economy, trade and investment. Moreover, another area of cooperation can be a solution to the crisis in Afghanistan. Time clearly shows that, there is no military solution to this conflict, only by peaceful means. We can change a lot together. In conclusion, I would like to thank all the participants of the round table for the thorough exchange of views and the initiators of this event for the successful organization of the event. Thank you for attention! 47