February 12, 2010
Politics:
Uzbekistan and South Korea agree to expand cooperation
Economics:
Medicines from Sirdaryo with new technologies
Investments in Production
Society:
Distance Learning Introduced in Schools
Beauty of Surgery
POLICY
UZBEKISTAN AND SOUTH KOREA AGREE TO EXPAND COOPERATION
Uzbekistan and South Korea are divided by a long distance. Despite this, these countries are bond with strong friendship ties. In 2006, Tashkent and Seoul signed a Joint declaration on strategic partnership. The two states regularly hold high-level meetings, which reflects the intensive development of bilateral relations.
The President of Uzbekistan visited Seoul as the honorary guest at the inauguration ceremony of the current President of South Korea Lee Myung-Bak in 2008. And in May 2009, the heads of two states met in Tashkent.
On 11 February, Islam Karimov and Lee Myung-Bak met in Chong Wa Dae, the South Korean President’s residence. The summit took place during the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan to Seoul.
At the face-to-face talks, the two leaders considered the present state and perspectives of relations between Uzbekistan and South Korea, as well as regional and international issues.
Islam Karimov said that Tashkent highly valued relations with Seoul, and that the summit was a demonstration of the interest of South Korea to cooperation with Uzbekistan.
Lee Myung-Bak stressed the meeting was a good opportunity to discuss the bilateral relations and prospects for their further expansion.
Among the issues the presidents considered were security, cooperation in fighting international terrorism and extremism, arms and drugs smuggling and non-proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction.
The two leaders discussed cooperation within international organizations. Uzbekistan and South Korea support each other’s initiatives of the international political arena. In particular, Tashkent supported Pyeongchang as a candidate for the 2018 winter Olympic Games.
Uzbekistan supports the position of Seoul on solving the problem on the Korean peninsula in a peaceful way, the South Korean leadership’s “New Asian Diplomacy” initiative and the energy strategy. Islam Karimov and Lee Myung-Bak were unanimous in opinion that denuclearization of the North Korea was an important condition for preservation of peace and stability in the North-East Asia.
The economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and South Korea is developing rapidly. The states implement large projects in oil and gas, mining, car building, logistics, textile and chemical industries, construction, ICT and other sectors.
The negotiations of the presidents continued with the participation of the official delegations of the two countries. The main focus of the talks was trade, economic, investment and humanitarian cooperation.
South Korea is one of the largest investment partners of Uzbekistan. The volume of South Korean investments in the Uzbek economy has exceeded USD 2 billion. South Korean companies are active in creation of the free industrial zone in Navoi.
Last March, during a conference in Seoul, the sides reached agreements on 35 investment projects worth a total of over USD 500 million to be implemented in Navoi region.
Cooperation of Uzbekistan with KOGAS, Korean Gas Corporation, includes conduction of geological survey works on gas deposits and their development, as well as production of polyethylene and polypropylene. Within this project, Uzbekistan is expecting to attract USD 3.12 billion of South Korean investments.
In the field of trade, Uzbekistan and South Korea have been enjoying the most favored country regime since 1992. In 2008, the bilateral trade turnover exceeded USD 2 billion, and last year the figure climbed to USD 1.2 billion. 351 Uzbek-South Korean joint ventures operate in Uzbekistan, along with 91 representative offices of South Korean companies.
The humanitarian cooperation between the two countries has also been expanding. In 1992, Korean Education Center was opened in Tashkent. Uzbek state world languages university and Samarkand state foreign languages institute have centers of Korean language and culture, while Tashkent IT university has an IT Center created with support of South Korea.
The Uzbekistan-Korea professional raining center was another achievement in the educational cooperation. Annually, 360 young people are taught here in the fields like PC assembly, agricultural machinery repairs, car service and others.
Uzbekistan-South Korea friendship society created in 1999 makes a large contribution to the development of cultural ties. It regularly organizes festivals, exhibitions, concerts and other events. South Korean musicians regularly participate in the Sharq Taronalari musical festival in Samarkand.
After the negotiations in Seoul, the sides signed a total of 16 documents, covering cooperation in areas like infrastructure, medicine, environmental protection, tourism, agriculture, etc. Among them are the Agreement on cooperation in development of alternative energy sources and power saving technologies and the Investment agreement on the project of construction of Ustyurt gas and chemical complex at Surgil deposit (north Uzbekistan).
Uzbekistan and South Korea also agreed on creation of a Seoul Park in the city of Tashkent.
Islam Karimov also met the Prime Minister of South Korea Chung Un-Chan. They discussed issues related to intensification of the cooperation between the two governments for successful implementation of the agreements reached during the visit.
President of Uzbekistan also held talks with the Speaker of the National Assembly (parliament) of South Korea Kim Hyung-o, which focused on expansion of the inter-parliamentary ties.
Islam Karimov visited the National Memorial Complex of South Korea, where he paid tribute to the memory of the sons of the Korean people, who gave their lives for the freedom of their Motherland, and laid flowers to the memorial. (Source: National News Agency UzA)
ECONOMY
MEDICINES FROM SIRDARYO WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES
The construction of the pharmaceutical plant Temur Med Farm Ltd. started in Syrdaryo region of Uzbekistan. The designed capacity of the new production is 40,000 ampules of infusion solution a day.
It is planned to spend about six billion soums to build six buildings in Syrdaryo plant. 80% - the basic part of these funds is the long-term loan. The Syrdaryo regional branch of Agrobank has already allotted over 1.1 billion soums from the beginning of construction. It is projected to finish building in the third quarter of the year. After that they will bring and assemble the modern equipment valued at about $2.5 million.
The contracts for the supply of technologies have been already signed with the India-based company Sushen Medicaments Pvt Ltd.
Using all production capacity the enterprise will be able to supply the drug store network with over ten kinds of infusion solutions worth 900 million soums a year. This will not only considerably decrease the price of the previously imported drugs but also make it possible to employ about 100 people in Syrdaryo region.
The SSC Uzpharmsanoat including enterprises on drug production is implementing the upgrade and technical extension program in the sector for 2007-2011 valued at a total of $26.5 million. The Uzfarmsanoat included some enterprises manufacturing drugs and auxiliary materials in December 2009 – January 2010: Omninvest Asia Ltd., Farm Glass JV, Med Glass JV, Ziyo Nur Farm, Galenika Ltd., Universal Farm JV, Uzhimpharm, Hansang Pharm. (Source: Uzbekistan Today newspaper)
INVESTMENTS IN PRODUCTION
Last year 86 investment projects were implemented in Surkhondaryo.
“Comprehensive support for small businesses increases interest of entrepreneurs in the acquisition of modern equipment and starting small businesses,” said Tura Bobolov, head of Surkhondaryo regional office of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “Reduction of the tax burden, concessional loans provided by commercial banks to business entities promote industrial development. In 2009, more than thirty entrepreneurs from our region have visited China, South Korea and other countries and signed agreements for modern technologies. Such enterprises replenish the consumer market with import substituting and competitive products.
For example, a private enterprise Abbos Abduolimov has launched the production of mineral water and beverages. The enterprise produces five types of quality products. Sharif Babayev mahalla in Muzrabad district has launched a sewing enterprise Muzrabottrikotaj LLC. The factory equipped with Japanese machinery produces more than ten kinds of knitwear. The enterprise has plans to export summer garments, towels and other knitwear.
Diversified private enterprise Al-Bakhodir Nor in the city of Termiz manufactures carpets on Turkish technology.
“Our carpets enjoy great demand for the quality and price,” said Muhiddin Madaev, director of the company. “The demand for our produce is high in the local market, so we are trying to increase production capacity and create new jobs.”
On average, Surkhondaryo region produces more than 1,400 tons of raw silk per year. Last year, a cocoons processing factory was launched in Termiz. $700,000 were provided for the organization of private enterprise Surxon-Termiz-Silk equipped with Chinese technology. It employs 350 workers, processes 500 kilograms of cocoons per day.
“Last year we have exported our produce to Turkey, Iran and the United Arab Emirates,” said Majid Hursandov, deputy director of Surxon-Termiz-Silk. “This year we have orders from other countries.”
In collaboration with the China, a joint venture Amu-Surkhon-Kashkar was organized here, supplied with modern equipment for drying raw silk, fruit and vegetables. Part of the output is to go for export. (Source: Uzbekistan Today newspaper)
SOCIETY
DISTANCE LEARNING INTRODUCED IN SCHOOLS
E-learning – is the name of the new project by the information education portal of the Ministry of Public Education focused on the distance learning development.
The regular users of the portal know very well another button entitled “distance education” empowering them to undergo various distance courses in information and communication technologies. The E-learning project has a bit different task: it is envisaged to assist the distance education development in school education system.
In particular, there are currently the courses for school teachers to acquire the teaching foundations through distance technologies. The users can also acquaint with the other direction of the E-learning project implemented by the Republican Center for General Education Multimedia Programs Development of the Ministry of Public Education together with teachers of the Tashkent school ¹12. Inherently, this cooperation establishes a foundation for acquiring the school basics through distance education technologies.
Igor Khan,
Deputy Director, the Republican Center for General Education Multimedia Programs Development:
E-learning is a promising start. Currently we consider it as another resource to empower schoolchildren to make up leeway or revert to a complicated topic within the school curriculum. Finally, perhaps, schoolchildren will get the opportunity of undergoing the school curriculum distantly, at home. However, there is much to do for that since it is just the beginning. (Source: Uzbekistan Today newspaper)
BEAUTY OF SURGERY
Plastic surgery is one of the rapidly developing areas of healthcare in Uzbekistan. It is improved as a high-tech branch of medicine.
Head of the Department of Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery of Andijon regional diversified medical center:
“Rejuvenating surgeries and adjustment of forms is only a small part of doctors’ workload in our specialty. Surgeons of the country conduct high-tech surgeries to correct congenital defects, including cleft palate and cleft lip, return appearance after such complex surgeries as mastectomy. Also, surgeons of “beauty” assist patients who to remove the scars left after extensive burns.
The specialists of the Republican Surgery Center of Academician Vohidov, the first Tashkent municipal hospital, diversified medical centers of Farg’ona, Namangan, Samarqand, our clinic and other major hospitals continue to improve and grasp innovative technologies and train them to specialists from other clinics. Almost all the recent introductions are high-tech surgeries that include microsurgical manipulations on blood vessels and skin grafts from healthy parts of the body to the damaged area.
At the same time each clinic has gained unique experience. In particular, our department, which is currently working as part of the Andijon regional diversified medical center for several years has remained the only institution, where experts conduct surgeries to restore hair of the head damaged by burns. Thick hair is returned using expander technology without the transplantation of the skin, but by stretching its healthy part.
In short, the modern technology of plastic surgery and the skill of national experts almost always allow the patient to obtain the desired look.” (Source: Uzbekistan Today newspaper)