UN UPDATES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ON UZBEKISTAN’S GOVT PROGRAM

The year 2018 has been announced in Uzbekistan as the one of Support for Active Enterprise, Innovation Ideas and Technologies, and the country’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev approved an eponymous government program. A corresponding report circulated in New York headquarters of the United Nations in six official languages of the organization has detailed the international community on that.

The official document of the 72nd session of the General Assembly informs that Uzbekistan’s leader approved the Government Program on the Implementation of the Strategy of Actions along Five Priority Tracks for the Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2017-2021 in the Year of Support for Active Enterprise, Innovation Ideas and Technologies.

As the statement goes, the government program comprises five sections (tracks) and covers areas like perfecting the governance and public administration, cementing the rule of law and furthering the judicial reform, promoting the social sector, economic activity and dynamic entrepreneurship, ensuring security, interethnic harmony and religious tolerance as well as foreign policy.

Along with that, as the UN official account reveals, the Uzbek government program envisages that 37 bills (including the Electoral Code, the laws on civil service, on protection of personal data, on the rights of persons with disabilities, on science, on innovation, among others) will be drafted, 142 normative acts be adopted and 52 practical measures taken, covering diverse areas.

The report informs in the meantime that the key step towards good governance will be the adoption in Uzbekistan of the Civil Service Act, a law that is expected to contribute to the delivery of a decent system of labor remuneration and social protection of public servants, and to also bolster their liability for the state of work in the entrusted area.

As a new mechanism for realizing the rights of citizens to participate in government, the document reads, a system of collective electronic petitions is envisioned to be introduced. It would allow the people to raise specific issues before representative bodies of power, which should respond to an appeal approved by a certain number of citizens. Thanks to this means, active citizens and social associations may act as initiators of addressing a diversity of challenges the society faces. Thus, the principle “critical decisions concerning the life of the nation to be taken on the basis of direct dialogue” will be at work.

In the realm of advancement and liberalization of the economy, a gradual transition to a new model of innovative development is projected, building on cutting-edge ideas, smart technologies and know-how.

The paper points out that Uzbekistan intends to work out a legal foundation for the establishment and development of venture funds, venture financing, along with mechanisms that stimulate the introduction of novelties and new technologies into the economy.

To secure transparency and legitimacy of the provision of land, it is planned to introduce online trading, a scheme that envisages the sale of state-owned assets through electronic trade platforms.

The legislation on banks and banking activities will be radically revised in Uzbekistan, the report demonstrates, while digital banking, internet banking and other modern technologies in this area are introduced. The government also seeks to continue with efforts toward the improvement and optimization of the tax and customs policy by reducing the tax burden, easing tax and customs administration. Particular attention is to be paid to the promotion of tourism, stimulation of inbound and domestic tourism, simplification of administrative and visa procedures for travelers.

The UN official document notes also that Uzbekistan will keep perfecting the system of healthcare and uplift the quality of medical services. The government in particular projects to introduce a system of ‘smart medicine’, innovative technologies in healthcare.

In addition, the statement details, for the full coverage of the nation’s population by telecommunication services, it is planned to lay 2,000 kilometers of fiber-optic communication lines in remote areas, increase the internet speed by 2.5 times and put more than 4,000 mobile communication base stations into operation.

The report emphasizes that 13.5 trillion soums and 1.3 billion US dollars are to be assigned for the implementation of the measures stipulated by the government program.

The realization of the program in the end will come to be a powerful impetus for Uzbekistan’s further economic development, authentic improvement in the welfare of the population, and elevation of the living standards in the country.

Jahon Information Agency