Category: News

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On March 5, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Nurlan Yermekbayev, who is on a visit to our country.

Topical issues of expanding multilateral partnership within the framework of this authoritative organization were discussed.

Importance of increasing practical cooperation in combating common challenges and threats to stability and security, as well as further deepening of cooperation based on the principles of good-neighborliness, trust and partnership was emphasized.

Particular attention was paid to continuing the process of modernizing the SCO activities launched at the Samarkand summit, including improving the efficiency of the work of all SCO structures.

The need to implement the Concept of Development of the New Economic Dialogue and a number of other initiatives of our country was noted. These include the adoption of an agreement on trade facilitation, an e-commerce program, a set of measures to stimulate investment, a plan for digitalization in logistics, the “SCO Future Technologies” program, the Atlas of Food Security and others.

Preparation for the upcoming SCO summit in China was also discussed.

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On March 5 President of the Republic of Uzbekistan attended a meeting of the National council on combating corruption. The meeting analysed the work carried out on creating corruption-free environment and defined further goals.

In his speech, the Head of State mentioned that corruption is a serious challenge in the course of reforms.

In this connection in the past years laws were adopted and a new system on combating this vice was created. Responsible committees were formed in the parliamentary chambers, a National council and Anti-Corruption Agency were established.

Particular attention is paid to creating conditions where the public can openly raise and discuss the problem of corruption. The role and influence of the media in this sphere are raising.

Primarily, measures are taken to combat the causes of corruption. For example, the abandonment of allocation of land plots by decisions of khokims and transition to the auction system made the allocation process more open. There have also been positive changes in this area since the introduction of the “Shaffof Kurilish” program.

The adoption of the law on public procurement, digitalization of the system of elections and tenders, as well as the establishment of healthy competition allowed saving 14 trillion soums of budget funds last year.

Today, all banks provide household loans up to 100 million soums online in 5 minutes without human involvement. As a result, thousands of bankers, who used to process such applications, now work directly in mahallas, offering projects and credit programs, thus contributing to the growth of the customer base.

In the pre-school and school education system, more than 10 types of services have been fully converted to electronic format, reducing the number of applications by 2.5 times.

The higher education system was also digitalized: a system for taking tests and selecting universities based on their results was introduced, and the automated receipt of 35 types of documents reduced the number of requests by 2.2 times.

Due to the use of body cameras by traffic safety inspectors, the sale of license plates through auctions, and the elimination of paper protocols, corruption factors have been significantly reduced.

Services to the population and entrepreneurs are organized on the basis of the principle of “the state serving the people”: the requirements to provide 120 types of documents, more than 160 licenses and permits have been abolished. This led to the emergence of almost 200 thousand new entrepreneurs in the market, and the number of enterprises with foreign participation increased almost 5 times, reaching 23 thousand.

The number of electronic public services increased 15 times, reaching 721, and the number of their users exceeded 11 million.

Most importantly, these measures have strengthened the faith of the population, entrepreneurs, foreign partners, international organizations and investors in the ongoing reforms. Over the past seven years, over $120 billion in investments have been attracted, and the country’s economy has doubled, reaching $115 billion last year.

The President emphasized that the fight against corruption is an ongoing process and outlined the current issues and future tasks in this sphere.

It was noted that law enforcement agencies are mainly focused on detecting and punishing corrupt acts, while preventive measures aimed at eradicating corruption factors are neglected.

In this regard, it was decided to change the working methodology of the Anti-Corruption Agency. As an experiment, compliance control in five agencies – the Ministries of Health, Construction, Water Resources, Joint Stock Companies “Uzbekneftegaz” and “Uzsuvtaminot” will be transferred to the Agency.

In addition, an in-depth study of factors of domestic and systemic corruption will be conducted at the district level, which will be used to develop specific measures and submitted to the National Council.

It was noted that 75 percent of corruption crimes are committed in the form of domestic corruption in districts and mahallas, so the composition of the regional councils on combating corruption will be completely renewed. They will be headed by chairmen of regional councils of people’s deputies.

The regional councils will propose to the National Council amendments to legislation aimed at eradicating corruption factors and ensuring inevitability of punishment.

Eight years ago, a system of sectors for the integrated development of territories was introduced. They contributed to solving socio-economic problems. In recent years, the potential of the regions has increased significantly.

In this regard, it was decided that prosecutors, heads of internal affairs and tax authorities would no longer be involved in sector activities. Additional tasks have been set to prevent and combat crime.

Special attention is paid to preventing corruption in public procurement. An Expert Commission will be established for this purpose. Based on best practices, an electronic platform will be developed to monitor that the prices of goods and services purchased through public procurement do not exceed the market average by more than 20 percent. Accountability measures and fines will be introduced for violation of this requirement.

Requirements for the procurement of fixed assets at the expense of the budget and extra-budgetary funds will also be tightened. Domestic transportation and furniture will be given priority in procurement by government agencies, and a requirement for evaluation against high anti-corruption standards will be introduced for major projects.

The fight against corruption begins with the selection of professional and dedicated employees for the civil service. In this regard, instructions have been given to improve procedures for hiring and evaluating candidates.

The need to adopt a law on the declaration of income of civil servants was noted, and a draft of this law will be submitted for public discussion.

The importance of instilling the ideas of honesty in educational institutions was emphasized in order to educate a new generation intolerant of corruption, as well as to support the initiatives of young people.

Addressing the public, the President said that the fight against corruption is a national task and a matter of conscience for every patriot of the country.

– If we all join forces, we will definitely achieve significant positive results. That is why mahalla activists, the older generation, intellectuals, writers and poets, art and culture workers, businessmen, well-known figures, leaders, deputies and senators – the entire public should become united and consider corruption as a “plague on the body of society”.

During the meeting, a dialogue was held with members of parliament, government representatives and the public.

For the first time, the event held in such a format demonstrated a strong political will to fight corruption.

The Head of State presented 55 concrete initiatives, which will include the development of 5 laws, 12 decrees and resolutions, as well as strengthening the role of Parliament, National and Regional Councils and civil society institutions in the fight against corruption.

The legal basis for the fight against corruption will be strengthened: the introduction of a new system of income declaration and a procedure for preventing illicit enrichment will reduce corruption factors. The activities of the Anti-Corruption Agency and internal control structures in organizations will be strengthened.

The responsibility of heads of ministries and agencies in preventing domestic corruption will be increased. A system of public evaluation of the quality of public services will be established, and strict measures will be taken against managers with the worst performance.

The independence of control inspections will be strengthened, and corruption prevention mechanisms will be introduced in major investment projects and auctions.

By streamlining the public procurement system and restricting direct procurement, budget savings will be achieved, and diversion of public funds will be curbed.

The freed resources will be mobilized to fight crime, which will lead to greater stability in society and increase the confidence of citizens. Strengthened prosecutorial oversight of illegal inspections will contribute to improving the business and investment climate in the regions.

The achieved results will improve the position of our country in international ratings, and by 2027 conditions will be created for Uzbekistan’s candidacy for the UNCAC conference.

Most importantly, the legal consciousness of the population, especially young people, will be raised, and the society will form ownership of the fight against corruption.

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On March 4 President Shavkat Mirziyoyev got acquainted with the report on poverty reduction and ensuring employment, as well as investment and export indicators.

Since the beginning of the current year, a new system of employment assistance has been introduced. Agreements on cooperation in this sphere have been signed between 208 khokims of districts and cities and heads of banks. In the branches of banks, subdivisions for work in makhallas were created and “makhalla bankers” were appointed.

As a result, 239 thousand people were involved in labor activity in January and 480 thousand in February. Since the beginning of the year, small and medium businesses have received loans totaling 14 trillion soums, including 2 trillion soums within the framework of entrepreneurial programs.

The population is provided with information on income-generating opportunities, ready-made business projects are offered and training on their implementation is conducted. The fact of employment is confirmed in the tax authorities, regular monitoring of fulfillment of tasks assigned to responsible persons is conducted.

The results of the analysis are presented at the meeting.

High indicators of employment were recorded in Jizzakh, Samarkand, Bukhara and Navoi regions, as well as in the framework of projects of the National Bank, Asakabank, Microcreditbank and Business Development Bank.

However, in Syrdarya region, as well as in 24 districts and cities, the results were unsatisfactory. Therefore, appropriate measures have been taken against 30 managers that allowed low efficiency of task fulfillment.

It was emphasized that, based on the accumulated experience, in the coming months it is necessary to increase the effectiveness of work, guide the unemployed to vocational training and income-generating work. It was instructed to ensure planting of crops in the current spring season on all homestead plots and leased land with monitoring of the process through the online-mahalla.uz platform.

Over the past two months, investment and export indicators have demonstrated positive dynamics. Over $6 billion of foreign investments and loans have been utilized since the beginning of the year. 1.1 thousand small and medium-sized projects worth $574 million have been implemented, creating more than 17 thousand new jobs.

Exports of goods and services totaled $2.8 billion: exports of jewelry products grew 7 times year-on-year, in the chemical industry 1.7 times, in electrical engineering and food processing 1.2 times, and in tourism services 1.6 times.

International standards have been introduced at 132 enterprises, and 521 enterprises have entered the foreign market for the first time, exporting $183 million in February.

The meeting noted that the investment indicators remain low in some sectors and regions, and the reasons for this and ways to resolve them were discussed.

The new deputy prosecutor general of the Republic of Uzbekistan Dilmurod Kasimov was introduced, who will be responsible for protecting the legitimate rights and interests of entrepreneurs and investors. It was noted that now the prosecutor’s office will play an important role in creating a favorable legal climate in this direction.

The responsible persons reported on plans to absorb more than $8 billion of foreign investment by the results of the first quarter and additional opportunities for exports.

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On February 28 President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed a presentation on the effective organization of public-private partnership projects in the social sphere.

Large-scare reforms on reducing the state presence in the economy are carried out in our country. The Law “On public-private partnerships” adopted in 2019 has opened up a broad range of opportunities for this.

Such partnership brings good results in the social sphere as well. In particular, due to the opening of private kindergartens for 1.2 million children, the coverage of preschool education has reached 77 percent. Within the framework of 57 projects in the sphere of higher education, 29 thousand students have been provided with places in dormitories. In the medical sphere, the private sector has a significant share in dentistry, otorhinolaryngology, laboratory and other services.

Despite the achieved successes, there is still a high demand and significant reserves for development in this area. In the course of the presentation the proposals on expansion of public-private partnership in medicine, education, culture and sports were considered.

Measures have been identified to implement 5 projects worth $1.2 billion in healthcare, 6 projects worth $745 million in pre-school and school education, projects worth $100 million in higher education together with the Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corporation, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other partners.

In particular, the construction of modern multidisciplinary clinics in Tashkent, Fergana, Bukhara, Andijan and Samarkand is envisaged. It is planned to transfer services of central polyclinics of the regions not related to medical activities to the private sector. 

The issues of involving the private sector in specific types of activities in the spheres of culture and sports have also been considered. Currently, 43 cultural centers have already been transferred to private management, there is a possibility to transfer 127 more facilities.

The need to similarly renovate unused swimming pools, sports halls and playgrounds with the expansion of recreational services was emphasized. To this end, a proposal was put forward to simplify the procedure of transferring cultural and sports facilities to private partners.

The Head of State instructed the ministries of social sphere and khokimiyats to approve and implement “road maps” in terms of facilities, accelerate public-private partnership projects.

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On February 27, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev received the head of International Judo Federation Marius Vizer who is in our country for the prestigious Grand Slam tournament. 

The issues of further expansion of fruitful cooperation with this authoritative sports organization in the field of development of national judo school and popularization of this kind of martial art in our country have been considered.

It should be noted that Uzbekistan actively participates in the activities of the international federation. In 2022, the world championship among adults was successfully held in our country, and last year – the world championship among military personnel. At the summer Olympic Games in Paris, Diyora Keldiyorova won a gold medal in judo for the first time in the history of Uzbekistan.

Head of the federation Marius Vizer highly appreciated the ongoing large-scale reforms on popularization of healthy lifestyle and all-round support to various sports in the country, wide involvement of youth, especially girls, as well as creation of modern and accessible sports infrastructure.

During the meeting, special attention was paid to the expansion of technical and expert assistance of the federation in the training of athletes, coaches and referees, as well as the introduction of an effective mechanism of talent selection.

In addition, it was proposed to hold regular international judo competitions in the regions of our country.

At the end of the meeting, the President of Uzbekistan presented the head of the International Judo Federation Marius Vizer with a high state award – the Order “Dustlik”, for his great personal contribution to the development of the national school of this martial art.

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In the framework of the telephone conversation held on February 26 the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev sincerely congratulated President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the occasion of his birthday.

The Head of our state warmly wished the Turkish leader health, well-being and great success in his responsible activity for the sake of sustainable development and prosperity of the brotherly Turkish people.

The role and personal contribution of President Recep Erdoğan to the formation of modern Türkiye, enhancement of the country’s authority in the global arena, as well as achievement of the current highest level of Uzbek-Turkish relations of comprehensive strategic partnership have been emphasized.

The ongoing active and fruitful contacts and exchanges at different levels, the growing dynamics of practical interaction in trade-economic and cultural-humanitarian spheres have been noted with deep satisfaction.

The importance of promoting joint cooperation projects in the areas of investment, innovation, energy, infrastructure, health care, education and others was emphasized.

The Heads of state paid special attention to the preparation of the agenda of the next meeting of the High-level Strategic Cooperation Council and the forthcoming summits within the framework of the Organization of Turkic States.

Views on topical issues on the international agenda were also exchanged.

At the end of the conversation, the two leaders exchanged congratulations on the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, sacred for the entire Muslim Ummah, sincerely wishing peace, prosperity and progress to the brotherly peoples of Uzbekistan and Türkiye.