DoD News Briefing
Tuesday, May 25, 1999 - 2:10 p.m.
Presenter: Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
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Second, earlier today at a meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Assistant Secretary Warner and the Uzbek Defense Minister, General Tursunov, signed an agreement implementing part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. Under this agreement, the U.S. will begin a cooperative project to dismantle a former Soviet chemical weapons testing facility near Nukus, Uzbekistan. We will help dismantle this, clean it up, demilitarize it...
Q: (inaudible) (Laughter)
Mr. Bacon: Well, it is. It may sound different in Uzbeki, but I'm not prepared to pronounce it with the Uzbeki pronunciation. I think Uzbekistan actually is changing from Russian, which used to [the] language, back to Uzbek. So it may have, its pronunciation may be in flux as well.
This dismantlement will eliminate a serious proliferation threat. Congress has already appropriated up to $6 million for the project, or authorized $6 million for the project. So this will be underway relatively soon.