INFORMATION DIGEST OF PRESS OF UZBEKISTAN # 178

September 11, 2017

VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF UZBEKISTAN TO KAZAKHSTAN
Constructive meetings on the margins of the international summit

Striving for the future energy united people

POLITICS
President of Uzbekistan received Chinese government delegation

REFORMS
On approval of the Concept of Administrative Reform in the Republic of Uzbekistan

FESTIVAL OF TRADITIONAL CULTURE "O’ZBEGIM"
Uzbekistan: demonstration of national values

THEATRE
Uzbekistan: unique gift for art fans

VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF UZBEKISTAN TO KAZAKHSTAN

Constructive meetings on the margins of the international summit
On September 9-10, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited Astana at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev.
On September 10, the First summit on science and technology of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has begun at the Palace of independence in the capital of Kazakhstan.
President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev met the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at this Palace.
President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev opened the summit.
The summit is held under “Science, technology, innovation and modernization in the Islamic world” slogan.
As it is known, on October 18, 2016, the 43rd session of the Council of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was held in Tashkent, the main idea of which was “Education and enlightenment – the path to peace and creation” slogan. The summit in Astana is a logical continuation of the session held in Tashkent.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev delivered a speech at the summit.
About 80 delegations of the member states and observer states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, regional and international organizations took part in the summit on science and technology.
Within the framework of the summit, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held meetings with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani, the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani.
At the meeting with the President of Iran, Shavkat Mirziyoyev sincerely congratulated Hassan Rouhani on the convincing victory in the recent presidential elections.
People of Uzbekistan and Iran are connected to each other by commonality of history and culture, good-neighborly relations. Our people love and appreciate the classical literary heritage of each other. Today, the cooperation of our countries is being consistently strengthened.
The head of our state touched upon the issues of cooperation in trade, economic, investment, transport and communication spheres and noted that more effective use of existing opportunities and broad potential, intensification of joint actions in this direction will allow to raise bilateral relations to a new level.
Hassan Rouhani noted that Iran considers Uzbekistan its close and reliable partner, strengthening of friendly relations between our countries will serve further expansion of mutually beneficial and long-term relations.
At the meeting with the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, issues of expanding cooperation between our countries in trade, economic, investment, tourism and other spheres were considered. Importance of organizing regular meetings between representatives of relevant ministries and business circles of the two countries for development and implementation of mutually beneficial and long-term projects was noted.
The heads of the states noted that Uzbekistan and Turkey see important and long-term partners in each other, the parties are in favor of expanding cooperation on the basis of mutual trust and raising it to a higher level that serves the interests of our people.
President of our country Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the meeting with the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani noted that he was glad to meet him again.
Based on the agreements reached during the meeting of the heads of the two states within the framework of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in June this year, a “roadmap” was adopted on further intensification of bilateral cooperation. As a result of its consistent implementation, trade and economic ties between our countries are developing dynamically. In the first half of 2017, the trade turnover between our countries has increased by 18,5 percent.
It was noted that the volume of trade turnover will increase even more after this meeting of the heads of the two states.
Prospects of further development of bilateral relations in political, trade, economic, transport, communication, cultural and humanitarian spheres were discussed at the meeting.
Thereupon, the visit of the President of our country Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Republic of Kazakhstan ended.
(Source: UzA)

Striving for the future energy united people
On September 10, the official closing ceremony of the international specialized exhibition “Astana EXPO – 2017” was held in the capital of Kazakhstan. It was attended by the heads of a number of states and international organizations.
About 120 countries such as Uzbekistan, Russia, USA, China, Germany, Great Britain, France, Japan, Turkey, India, Vietnam, Armenia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cuba, Turkmenistan, Romania, Brazil, Georgia demonstrated their technological, scientific, cultural achievements at the exhibition, which lasted three months. More than 20 international organizations also took part at the forum.
The exhibition devoted to the “Future energy”, international conferences that were held within its framework reflected the concern of the world community about the problem of energy consumption, which has a direct impact on the future of our planet.
The exposition, which became a symbol of industrialization and an open platform for demonstrating technical and technological achievements, attracted attention of millions of people around the world, over 5 million people visited the exhibition.
Our country took an active part in the exhibition. Thousands of guests, specialists visited the pavilion of Uzbekistan with a total area of 1 180 square meters. The stands dedicated to the achievements of our country in automotive industry, high technologies, robotics, tourism, the agrarian sector aroused great interest among them. A number of agreements on cooperation were signed. On September 5, the national day of Uzbekistan was held within the framework of the exhibition.
At the closing ceremony of “Astana EXPO – 2017”, it was noted that the forum was a logical continuation of the international exhibition that is traditionally held since 1851 and made a great contribution to unity of people of the world, the ranks of countries wishing to host this prestigious event and participate in it are expanding.
The official closing ceremony of the international specialized exhibition ended with a theatrical concert program and fireworks.
The next exhibition will be held in 2020 in the United Arab Emirates.
(Source: UzA)

POLITICS

President of Uzbekistan received Chinese government delegation
On September 9, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev received the government delegation of the People’s Republic of China headed by the Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, co-chairman of Uzbekistan-China intergovernmental committee on cooperation Meng Jianzhu, who arrived in our country to attend the next meeting of the joint Committee.
The head of our state, warmly welcoming the guest, noted with deep satisfaction the dynamic development of mutually beneficial multifaceted cooperation between Uzbekistan and China.
It was emphasized that the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan to China held in May this year raised bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level, contributed to strengthening of comprehensive strategic partnership of the two countries.
The volume of mutual trade is steadily growing: in January-July this year, the trade turnover exceeded 2,5 billion dollars.
Priority investment programs and projects in the energy sector, oil and gas, chemical, machine-building, electrical engineering, textile industries, on development of reliable transport and communication infrastructure, in the sphere of tourism and other important areas are being carried out jointly with leading Chinese companies, banking and financial institutions.
Contacts between regions and business communities of the two states are actively developing. Scientific-technical and cultural-humanitarian cooperation is expanding.
Prospects of practical cooperation between Uzbekistan and China, first of all, in trade and economic, investment, financial and transport-communication spheres were considered at the meeting.
The decisive role of Uzbekistan – China intergovernmental committee on cooperation in ensuring full implementation of agreements at the highest level, as well as promotion of new projects in high-tech sectors of the economy, was noted.
Meng Jianzhu expressed deep gratitude to the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for the warm welcome and conveyed sincere greetings and best wishes of the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping.
The interest and readiness of the Chinese side to further strengthen relations of comprehensive strategic partnership between Uzbekistan and China are emphasized.
By the decree of the head of our state, Meng Jianzhu was awarded the “Dustlik” (“Friendship”) order for the great merits in strengthening friendship and multifaceted relations, deepening of long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation between our countries, as well as personal contribution to the implementation of major economic and investment projects, development of comprehensive strategic partnership.
(Source: UzA)

REFORMS

On approval of the Concept of Administrative Reform in the Republic of Uzbekistan
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree “On approval of the Concept of Administrative Reform in the Republic of Uzbekistan” on 8 September 2017.
Uzbek leader approved the Concept of Administrative Reform in the Republic of Uzbekistan.
In the Concept of Administrative Reform in the Republic of Uzbekistan, six main directions of radical reform of the public administration system have been identified.
The first direction is devoted to improvement of institutional and organizational and legal bases of the executive bodies.
Measures in this area provide for introduction of clear criteria and procedures for creating and abolishing executive bodies, optimizing executive bodies with rational use of human and material resources, increasing autonomy of executive bodies and improving mechanisms for their interaction with the Cabinet of Ministers, etc.
The second direction envisages concretization of tasks, mechanisms for their implementation and responsibilities of executive authorities, in this connection, measures will be taken to increase the initiative and the role of territorial executive authorities in the development programs, introduction of a fundamentally new system for assessing the performance of executive bodies at all levels and their leaders, based on the achievement of target indicators.
Also, measures will be taken to use modern methods of organization of work successfully applied in international practice, including quality management, indicative planning, outsourcing, crowdsourcing.
The third direction is to reduce the administrative impact on economy and expand market management mechanisms.
In this direction, it is planned to restrict creation of commercial organizations with the participation of the state and reorganization of existing state enterprises in areas, where the private sector operates effectively and develop clear market mechanisms for state participation in economic activities. Separate government functions will be transferred to the private sector.
In the fourth direction, it is envisaged to improve the mechanisms of the vertical management system and interaction of the executive authorities, including the gradual decentralization of state administration.
Measures will be taken to expand the financial capacity of state authorities in the field, increase their role and responsibility, and strengthen the powers of state authorities in the field in the selection and placement of leading cadres of territorial bodies.
The fifth direction includes measures to introduce modern forms of strategic planning, innovative ideas, developments and technologies into the public administration system.
Among these measures, it should be noted introduction of innovative forms of public administration, which will optimize and simplify procedures for provision of public services, active involvement of investments in development of innovative ideas and technologies and creation of a developed infrastructure necessary for the successful implementation of modern research and innovation achievements.
The sixth direction identifies formation of an effective system of professional civil service, as well as the establishment of effective mechanisms to counter corruption.
To achieve these goals, it is planned to ensure transparency and openness of the civil service, introduction of new mechanisms for establishing an open dialogue with the public, raising productivity of public servants with introduction of a modern system of payment for their labor and social security.
The President also approved a “road map”, which provides for more than 40 specific activities for practical implementation of the provisions of the Concept of Administrative Reform in the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Also, the Commission for implementation of the Concept of Administrative Reform in the Republic of Uzbekistan and the working groups for critical examination and preparation of proposals for radical reform of the public administration system have been formed.
The commission organizes qualitative development by the working groups of the relevant draft normative legal acts, as well as strictly controls the full, timely and qualitative implementation of the Concept of Administrative Reform and the Road Map.
At the same time, the Commission is entrusted with the task of approving the schedule for carrying out critical research and preparing proposals for a radical reform of the public administration system, on the basis of which it is planned to review the activities of more than 100 state and economic management bodies.
(Source: Uzdaily.com)

FESTIVAL OF TRADITIONAL CULTURE "O’ZBEGIM"

Uzbekistan: demonstration of national values
Representatives of the general public and the diplomatic corps, foreign guests, workers of local and foreign mass media are taking part in this festive event, organized by “Milliy” TV channel in cooperation with a number of organizations.
The main goal of this festival, organized within the framework of the execution of the resolution of the head of our state Shavkat Mirziyoyev “On measures of further development and improvement of the sphere of culture and art” of May 31, 2017, is careful preservation of cultural values, customs and traditions of our country, introduction of our compatriots and the international community with ancient and eternal heritage of our people, further development of tourism potential of Uzbekistan.
At the festival, organized in the form of folk festival, samples of applied and fine arts are being demonstrated, master classes, folk games and performances, other events related to folk traditions are being held.
In the bright event of our festival – the preparation of the national Uzbek dish – pilaf has directly involved representatives of Guinness World Records. Experts are intending to fix a world record for the volume of cooked pilaf – its weight will be almost 8 tons. More than a thousand guests, that is, all participants of the festival, will be able to taste pilaf cooked by 50 chefs, which will become a pleasant gift. More than 200 representatives of various specialties worked day and night in preparation, distribution of pilaf, and in organizational process. They share one goal – to show the world a rich and unique culture of Uzbekistan.
A record number of products was used for the preparation of pilaf. In particular, 1 850 kilograms of meat, more than 200 kilograms of broadtail fat, 1 850 kilograms of rice, 1 850 kilograms of carrots, more than 200 kilograms of onions, more than 400 liters of vegetable oil and other products.
– Uzbek national dishes are highly valued all over the world, – said Richard Stenning, representative of Guinness World Records. – There are many pilaf lovers among them. The weight of products should exceed four tons for inclusion of pilaf in the Guinness Book of Records. We are anxiously waiting for the result. I think that the pilaf, which is being prepared in Tashkent today, will enter the Guinness Book of Records.
Pilaf is being cooked in a bowl with a diameter of 4,2 meters, a volume of almost 8 thousand liters. The weight of kazan (cauldron), produced in Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, is 7070 kg, the depth is 1,5 meters. The hearth on which the cauldron is installed weighs 3 tons.
The festival is being demonstrated on more than 20 screens installed in Sayilgoh Street. At the same time, is shown on-line on “Milliy” TV channel, and is transmitted to the Internet via the Guinness World Records page on Facebook.
(Source: UzA)

THEATRE

Uzbekistan: unique gift for art fans
A solemn event marking the opening of the new 88th theater season was held at the State Academic Grand Theater named after Alisher Navoi.
I National Symphony Open Air concert became a real gift for residents and guests of the capital.
In our country, special attention is paid to the development of all genres and directions of music, further enriching them with new traditions, increasing spirituality, musical, artistic and aesthetic taste of our people, particularly the younger generation.
At the meeting of the head of our state Shavkat Mirziyoyev with representatives of the creative intelligentsia held on August 3 this year, tasks of educating youth in the spirit of patriotism, devotion to the country and people, selflessness, protecting them from ideas alien to our mentality were assigned to the workers of the sphere.
This meeting opened new perspectives for further development of activities of creative collectives of our country, including the State Academic Grand Theater named after Alisher Navoi. These qualities find their reflection in creating a “club of friends” of leading creative organizations, attracting large companies, banks and enterprises as sponsors, establishing permanent cooperation between them.
The creative collective of the theater, which has been given the name of our great ancestor, has gained respect not only in the country, but also in the world. Opera and ballet performances, concert programs, art festivals won high recognition of musical art fans. In addition, joint projects implemented with artists and creative collectives of Italy, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the USA entered the golden annals of cultural life of the country as bright events.
...In the rays of sunset, the picturesque and lively theater square on the background of various lighting fixtures, decorations, special laser techniques and technologies, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow of the fountain, seems even more unique, magnificent, charming, fascinating and extraordinarily fabulous. Cool autumn breeze, attractive and divine power of music distributed over the square establish a creative atmosphere.
The Open Air music program, organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the State Academic Grand Theater named after Alisher Navoi with support of “TOP Congress” company, opened the new 88th theater season.
In this musical program, prepared on the basis of a peculiar and unique creative approach, the great success achieved in the years of independence in such areas of art as national music, theater, opera and ballet, design were demonstrated. The organization of the concert under the open sky created an opportunity for true enjoyment with unique samples of music, masterpieces of world and Uzbek composers. Practice of carrying out of similar musical programs under the open sky – Open Air show is widely applied today in a number of countries of the world.
– Special attention paid to artists in our country inspires us to work even harder, search for new creative ideas, – says conductor of the theater Bobomurod Khudoykulov. – We hope that the new music program has become a unique gift for the spectators and guests of the capital.
National arias, graceful waltzes, musical works that have become the property of all mankind, fragments from operas left an unforgettable impression in the hearts and minds of true music connoisseurs. There is a storm of applause... Everyone has only one wish in the heart – “Let the magic and enchanting melodies always sound in our peaceful, tranquil and prosperous Motherland!”
(Source: UzA)

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