12 August, 2012

Politics:
PRESIDENT APPOINTS NEW DEPUTY PREMIER

Economy:
UZBEKISTAN IMPROVES THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Society:
MEDIA CAMP FOR YOUNG JOURNALISTS KICKS OFF

POLITICS

PRESIDENT APPOINTS NEW DEPUTY PREMIER

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov appointed Adham Ikramov as new Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan with his decree.

Adham Ikramov accused office of the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan and the head of complex on culture, education, healthcare and social protection.

Prior to his appointment, Adham Ikramov worked as the Minister of Healthcare of Uzbekistan.

At the same time, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov signed a decree on appointment of Anvar Alimov to the post of the Minister of Healthcare.

Anvar Alimov, prior to appointment, occupied the post of the first Deputy Minister of Healthcare. (Source: UzDaily.com)

ECONOMY

Uzbekistan improves the business environment

Since August 10 this year, the decision of the board of the Central Bank "On making amendments and additions to the Regulations on non-cash transactions in the Republic of Uzbekistan" enters into force.

According to the document, banks will accept financial documents of micro firms for settlement, even without an accountant's signature in the first copy (the original).

On August 9, the order of the Minister of Justice "On Amendments to the instruction 'On the order of notarial acts by notaries'" came into force. Now, all business entities (business organizations, their representative offices and branches, individual entrepreneurs, private farms, carrying out activities without a legal entity) are exempt from notarization of signatures for opening bank accounts.

Changes and additions to existing legislation to abolish the notarization of signatures for opening bank accounts, as well as the mandatory presence of a signature of small business entities (micro firms) on the card, second signature (accountant) are made under the presidential decree of July 18 this year "On measures to further improve the business environment and provide greater freedom of entrepreneurship".

As part of this document a number of other measures are scheduled in the registration and start doing business in the country. In particular, the fee for issuing key digital signatures by the registration center under the State Tax Committee decreased from 20% to 10% of the minimum wage. In addition, the relevant authorities should provide subjects of entrepreneurship with access to the telephone network within 10 days, and permission to connect to water and sewerage networks should be issued within 2 working days from the date of application.

According to the classification adopted in Uzbekistan, small businesses are:

- Individual entrepreneurs;

- Micro with an annual average number of workers employed in manufacturing industries - not more than twenty persons; in services and other non-manufacturing industries - not more than ten people; in the wholesale, retail trade and public catering - no more than five people;

- Small enterprises with an annual average number of workers employed in industries:

- Light and food industries, metalworking and instrument, woodworking, furniture and building materials industry with no more than a hundred people hired;

- Machine building, metallurgy, energy and chemical industries, production and processing of agricultural products, construction and other industrial and manufacturing areas - no more than fifty people;
- Science and scientific services, transport, communications, services (excluding insurance companies), trade and catering and other service sector - not more than twenty-five people. (Source: UzReport.com)

(Source: Uzreport.com)

SOCIETY

Media camp for young journalists kicks off

Over 150 young people have come together for this year’s Media Camp for aspiring journalists at Umid Gulshani health resort in Tashkent Region. Now in its third year, the Media Camp includes training sessions on TV, print and online journalism as well as workshops, interactive games, competitions and meetings with international specialists and many more. This year’s media training event will run from August 5 to August 18.

The first training sessions that started at the Media Camp were geared for the members of Kelajak Ovozi (Voice of the Future) youth TV studios and Forum TV Channel. The workshops for these journalists are being led by European film producer and director Regis Ghezelbash, who was part of the jury for last year’s Tashkent International Cinema Forum “Golden Guepard”. Among other professionals who have joined the Media Camp to teach skills to young Uzbek journalists are representatives of Russia’s “Amazing Life” TV channel, Indian cameraman Shamsuza Zoha and Thai animator Aderoson Saovade.

The training event kicked off with welcome remarks by the Chairperson of the Youth Media Council, Gulnara Karimova. Her workshops are awaited with particular interest as they develop into a truly creative dialog that spawns exciting ideas and opinions. This year, however, Gulnara Karimova accentuated not only the spiritual aspect of any creative person, but also on their physical wellness. Leading a healthy lifestyle and doing sports are very important to becoming successful in many respects. Gulnara Karimova shared practical tips on energizing oneself and keeping upbeat and positive by demonstrating yoga asanas as well as several strength-boosting and stretching exercises, which came as a pleasant surprise for those gathered.

These two weeks promise a series of exciting workshops, competitions, interactive games and other useful activities.

The organizers of the Media Camp include: Fund Forum, Kelajak Ovozi (Voice of the Future) YIC, the National Association of Electronic Media of Uzbekistan, the Council of Trade Union Federations of Uzbekistan, the Creative Union of Journalists, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the OSCE and UNESCO Tashkent offices. (Source: Fundforum.uz)