The press-conference was led by the Deputy Prime-Minister of Uzbekistan and Chairman of the Organizational Committee Rustam Kasimov. The participants of the press-conference included representatives of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan, Committee for Religious Affairs under the Cabinet of Ministers, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, Tashkent Islam University and other organizations, who had a thorough exchange of thoughts on the upcoming conference.

It was noted that the ISESCO decision to name Tashkent the capital of Islamic Culture in 2007 has become a historical and cultural milestone. This recognition came not only from the uniqueness of the legacy of Uzbekistan but also from what the Republic has been doing in order to preserve and safeguard it. Uzbekistan is one of the important centers of the Muslim world which gave the world outstanding theologists and encyclopedic scientists in secular and exact sciences. Uzbekistan is home to over 10 thousand historical architectural monuments.

"Since the very outset of Uzbekistan's independence, the Republic has been, under the leadership of President Karimov, making good efforts to revive national and religious values and heritage left by our forefathers", noted Abdulaziz Mansur, Deputy Chairman of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan. Hundreds of architectural sites have been renovated. Today, they represent centers of spiritual and ethical education while the splendid cities with a centuries-old history are celebrating their anniversaries. New pages of prominent thinkers' lives are being discovered and unique complexes that are striking in beauty and splendor are being constructed. Tashkent's having been announced as the capital of Islamic culture in 2007 signals a worthy recognition of these large-scale efforts.

The Chairman of the Organizational Committee and Deputy Prime-Minister Rustam Kasimov noted that the interest of the kind has also been incited both by the rich historical past of the country and large-scale efforts to preserve ands revive our legacy, to restore a large number of Muslim sanctuaries such as the memorials of imam Al Bukhari, Shahi Zinda in Samarkand, Bakhauddin Nakshbandi in Bukhara, Hazrati imam in Tashkent and many other places that became major centers of spiritual education.

The revival of spiritual and intellectual legacy of our forefathers and historical monuments that are of universal significance has been made one of the priorities of the state policy during independence years and undergone personal care by President Karimov. And the ISESCO decision has come in good time as a worthy recognition of all these endeavors. Tashkent's having been announced as the capital of Islamic culture in 2007 signals a worthy recognition of these large-scale efforts. Foreign media have brought out much information on the event.

A large number of scientific and practical conferences have been held across the Republic during this year. The Islamic University established in Tashkent at the initiative of the President of the Republic which makes a weighty contribution to the development of Islamic culture in our country.

The conference will be attended by Islamic studies experts, representatives of different faiths, and international organizations such as ISESCO, UNESCO, the League of Arab States, Islamic Bank of Development, etc.

"The conference program includes two lectures about Uzbekistan as an important center of Islamic culture. Participants will then go on to work in three sections", said Zakhidillo Munavvarov, Chairman of the Republican National Spiritual Center of imam Al Bukhari. Participants will talk about the history of the development of Islam in Uzbekistan, evolution of its influence on the national statehood and interaction with power, development of culture and science during Eastern Renaissance, the activities of the Mamun Academy and Ulugbek observatory as well as the authors of hadith collections. One of the sections will discuss issues of the development of city planning, architecture, development of architecture in the conditions of Islam, arts. Also, Uzbekistan's written sources, the legacy of Islamic culture, will be discussed.

"Uzbekistan is a country where people of all faiths have always coexisted peacefully. This tradition has a centuries-old history. One of the sections will therefore be devoted to the review of the development of this tradition", noted Z. Munavvarov.

Samarkand will host a separate lecture about its role in the development of Islamic culture.

During the press-conference, it was noted that over a hundred reports by Uzbek and foreign experts and specialists have been prepared. Several books are expected to be published. In particular, one of these is a photo album "Tashkent, the pearl of Islamic civilization" in Uzbek, Arabic, Russian and English. The press-conference was also attended by the State Advisor to the President of Uzbekistan B. Abdukhalimov.