Tashkent hosting conference of Central Asia mass media representatives

The fourth conference of Central Asia mass media representatives "Freedom of Mass Media and Corruption" has opened on Thursday in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe /OSCE/.

The forum, scheduled for September 26th-27th, "will mark the continuation of efficient discussions on different aspects of self-expression and mass media freedom," said the head of the OSCE center in Tashkent Gancho Ganchev in his interview with RIA Novosti.

The conference is expected to gather about 100 journalists, as well as experts, representatives of political parties and non-governmental organizations.

Participants in the forum are supposed to "study and discuss the vital necessity of open public debates and also new approaches to security issues," Ganchev stressed.

During the past three weeks, OSCE representatives on mass media freedom have organized and held regional journalists' conferences in Central Asia--in Bishkek in 1999, Dushanbe in 2000 and Alma-Ata in 2001.