Ambassador to Uzbekistan hosts World Press Freedom Day event
On 2 May 2019, British Ambassador Mr Chris Allan hosted six prominent journalists of Uzbekistan at his residence in order to mark World Press Freedom Day.
Representatives of the major media outlets such Lola Islamova from Anhor.uz, Alisher Azimov from Daryo.uz, Mavjuda Mirzayeva from Uzbekistan 24, Khurshid Dalilov from Kun.uz, Sardor Salimov from Minbar.uz and Andrey Kudryashev from Fergana news agency gathered in order to discuss major challenges and prospects for the development of journalism in Uzbekistan.
Her Majesty’s Ambassador talked about the UK experience of media freedom and explained that this year the UK’s Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, named the defence of media freedom as his signature policy.
In his welcome speech, Mr Allan also said:
While the situation in Uzbekistan is rapidly improving, I deeply regret to say that recent global trends in the field have been causing much concern.
I want to underline that the UK will keep working hard to defend media freedom all over the world. Access to information is vital to any society. Freedom of expression underpins all human rights. We continue to defend the rights of journalists, supporting those who are imprisoned, and speak out against restrictive laws, to make sure that journalists are protected and free media nurtured.