A farewell ceremony for Uzbek President, Islam Karimov, who has recently passed away at the age of 78 after a stroke, took place in Samarkand.
The funeral ceremony was held at the Samarkand residence of the late head of state. It was attended by heads of states, foreign delegations, representatives of the public and
media. The ceremony was conducted by the Chairman of the State Commission on organizing the funeral, Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyayev, Interfax informs.
The funeral of the first president of Uzbekistan was attended by delegations from seventeen states, the press-service of the Cabinet informs, RIA Novosti reports.
The funeral ceremony was attended by Presidents of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan; prime ministers of Belarus, Georgian, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan; vice-premiers of China, South Korea and Ukraine. The Russian delegation was headed by the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The Azerbaijani delegation was headed by the Speaker of the Milli Mejlis Oktay Asadov. Armenia was represented by Vice Speaker of the National Assembly (Parliament) of the country Hermine Naghdalyan.
Prior to this, national funeral ceremonies were held in Samarkand and at the house of Islam Karimov's parents in Tashkent.
