U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Uzbekistan on Monday to improve its human rights record, saying it was time for the ex-Soviet republic to show the world it was serious about delivering on its promises.

A Muslim nation at the heart of the ancient Silk Road trading route, Uzbekistan has long been accused by the West of human rights abuses including the use of torture in jail.

President Islam Karimov, who has tolerated no dissent during two decades in power, denies the accusations and says he needs to be tough in the face of a growing Islamist threat to his secular rule.

Ban, on his first tour of Central Asia, met with Karimov on Monday and the two had a frank exchange on human rights, according to a U.N. official travelling with the U.N. chief.

The official quoted Karimov as telling Ban during their private meeting: “Why pick on us on these issues? They are a problem for everyone”. Another U.N. official described the talks as a “pretty rough ride”.

Earlier, in a speech at a university in the capital Tashkent, Ban urged Uzbekistan to show its commitment to human rights.

“You have an important place in the universal agreements that bind us as a community of nations. It is time to deliver. To put them fully into practice,” Ban said.

Central Asia has some of the world’s biggest energy reserves and is home to a supply route for NATO-led troops in nearby Afghanistan. But it is an ethnically divided region that has been prone to instability since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Some rights groups have accused the West of putting oil and security above democracy in its ties with the region, and not applying enough pressure on governments to promote human rights.

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Surat Ikramov, one in a handful of independent human rights defenders operating in Uzbekistan, said he did not expect Karimov to change his policies as a result of Ban’s visit.

“The Uzbek leadership will largely ignore all this,” he told Reuters. “Things will remain the same. The U.N. is a big talking shop and it has no authority over countries like Uzbekistan.”

Ban said he had won rights concessions from the leader of Turkmenistan after visiting that country earlier on the tour. In Kyrgyzstan, protesters shouted “help us!” as his motorcade drove through the capital.

Uzbekistan has intensified a campaign against dissent over the years, driving Western media outlets out of the country and putting pressure on local reporters. Reuters has been covering Uzbekistan from neighbouring Kazakhstan since 2008.

Uzbekistan, the region’s most populous nation, has never held an election judged fair by international observers and criticism of state policies can land people in jail. There are no registered opposition parties in the country, which still employs a Soviet-style command economy.

Speaking at the university, Ban urged students to take the future into their own hands in a country where two thirds of the population of 28 million are under 30 years old.

“You are the future of your great nation. Therefore you are responsible for it,” Ban, flanked by Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyayev, told about 200 students. “This is your new world. It needs you. The world needs a modern Uzbekistan.”

(Writing by Maria Golovnina; editing by Noah Barkin)