15 March, 2012

Economics:
Uzbekistan to double production of sulfuric acid by 2015
Society:
The Woman of Modern Uzbekistan
Varying in Ethnic Origin, yet united as the Uzbek people

ECONOMY

Uzbekistan to double production of sulfuric acid by 2015

Promelektromontaj Trust of Zarafshan construction department and construction-mounting trust AMMP will get 29.3 billion soums in 2012 for construction of a sulfuric acid plant in Navoi region and the acid factory at the smelter of Almalyk Mountain Metallurgical Plant. 7.7 billion soums (Exchange rate of CB 1USD-1835.75 soums) account for construction and installation works. Both projects were included in the program of contract construction in 2012.

The cost of a new project at NMMP with capacity of 650 tons of sulfuric acid is determined in the amount of $94 million, including $64 million of own means of the plant, $30 million - credit of the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan.

The sources of financing of the new acid plant at the smelter of Almalyk MMP with capacity of 500 thousand tons and cost of $80.2 million are own funds of the plant in an amount equivalent to $21.2 million, the credit of the Fund for Reconstruction and Development ($30 million), credits of Ipoteka Bank in the total amount equivalent to $29 million.

Originally scheduled for 2015, commissioning of the sulfuric acid plant in Navoi region was moved to 2014 in the light of the Resolution the President of October 4, 2011 "On urgent measures to increase production and development of new types of competitive products". Commissioning of the acid plant at the Almalyk company is scheduled on 2013.

To speed up the work, construction companies of the plant are allowed to conduct construction and assembly works along with preparation of construction documents and perform construction works on their own up to April 1, 2012, the JSC Almalyk MMP informed.

According to experts, the main consumer of sulfuric acid is production of fertilizers, especially phosphorus ones. It is widely used in the uranium industry. A significant amount of product is consumed in processing of liquid fuels: to clean kerosene, paraffin, lubricating oils from sulfur and unsaturated compounds, as well as treatment of various mineral oils and fats. Sulfuric acid is also demanded by the leather and textile industries, metallurgy and other fields of industrial activity. (Source: UzReport.com)

Promelektromontaj Trust of Zarafshan construction department and construction-mounting trust AMMP will get 29.3 billion soums in 2012 for construction of a sulfuric acid plant in Navoi region and the acid factory at the smelter of Almalyk Mountain Metallurgical Plant. 7.7 billion soums account for construction and installation works. Both projects were included in the program of contract construction in 2012.
The cost of a new project at NMMP with capacity of 650 tons of sulfuric acid is determined in the amount of $94 million, including $64 million of own means of the plant, $30 million - credit of the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan.

To speed up the work, construction companies of the plant are allowed to conduct construction and assembly works along with preparation of construction documents and perform construction works on their own up to April 1, 2012, the JSC Almalyk MMP informed.

According to Goskomstat, in 2010 Uzbekistan produced 1,192.6 thousand tons of sulfuric acid monohydrate. Of these, 394.8 thousand tons were produced in Navoi region, 797.8 thousand tons in Tashkent region.

According to experts, the main consumer of sulfuric acid is production of fertilizers, especially phosphorus ones. It is widely used in the uranium industry. A significant amount of product is consumed in processing of liquid fuels: to clean kerosene, paraffin, lubricating oils from sulfur and unsaturated compounds, as well as treatment of various mineral oils and fats. Sulfuric acid is also demanded by the leather and textile industries, metallurgy and other fields of industrial activity. (Source: UzReport.com)

SOCIETY

The Woman of Modern Uzbekistan

ASpring has come to Uzbekistan; it has heated the land with the sun’s warmth, filled everything with tenderness and charm. International Women's Day is celebrated during the first days of spring; this symbolic because spring is a time of the nature's renewal, blossom, sowing the seeds for the next harvest. Each region of the country has its particular traditions. And women are distinct from one province to another. They are different, unique and peculiar. The date of March 8 for them is a celebration that symbolizes all that is beautiful - the awakening, the spring, the femininity. This day is celebrated particularly more widely this year since it has been announced as the Year of the Family. This is reasonable, because for Uzbek people from ancient times the image of a woman, who is the guardian of the hearth, family support, has been and remains the symbol of kindness, selflessness and devotion.

These days, celebrations are held in all regions of the country. Lovely women are being congratulated, they are surrounded with special attention and honor. The main celebrations were held in the Turkiston Palace. There were woman who have made great contribution to the prosperity of the motherland by many years of hard work, those who have distinguished themselves by achievements in various fields, venerable mothers, representatives of women's committees, employees of various ministries and departments, public organizations, the winner of the State Prize Zulfiya.

All words addressed to them, oh this day, sounded especially emotionally. More heat and sense of high spirits were added by sincere congratulations of President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov on the occasion of March 8. On this occasion the head of state said, "Our country has always been highly prizing and appreciating your decent work in various fields, from the highest legislative and local representative and executive bodies of power to the judicial system, local authorities, non-government organizations and social agencies, industry and agriculture, private enterprise and farming."

The holiday was illuminated with smiles andlgo6d mood of grandmothers, mothers, sisters and dear friends. Young artists showed their brilliant talents and skills. Fortunately, our motherland is generous with such wonderful women who combine hard work and love to country which believes, in you and creates all conditions for professional and creative growth. These words were often heard at the celebrations dedicated to this most wonderful holiday.

WHO IS OUR MODERN WOMAN?

She is a strong person who is not afraid of changes and is confident about the future. She combines feminine wisdom and proficiency in solving actual problems. The years of independence have become the period of prosperity in the lives of women of this country. During this time important steps in improving their socio-political activity were made. They increased their role and authority in families, women involvement in achieving various social and state goals has risen. Currently woman is an active participant of all spheres of life in the country. She is a pillar and hope of the society, she symbolizes kindness and mercy.

Past experience confirms that protection of women interests can not be outside the scope of public policy, especially during transitional stages of development. The country implemented step by step national program for the advancement of women in the society. As President Islam Karimov noted, "Improving the social status of our mothers, sisters, companions of life, daughters, showing respect and honor to them, alleviating their work should be the primary goals for our state, government, local authorities and the general public”.

Government's attention to the issues of support and protection for women has been testified by many years devotee to woman's development: 1998 - Year of the Family, 1999 - the Year of Women, 2000- The Year of Healthy Generation, 2001- the Year of Mother and Child, 2005 - The Year of Health. It is undoubted that the recently adopted 2012 National Program Year of Family will make a significant contribution to these processes. Under this program, much attention will be given to further improving the system of family, maternal and child health in accordance with the principle "Healthy mother-healthy child." Further improvement of the legal and regulatory framework; making necessary changes and amendment to existing legislation; developing new laws; regulations and rules aimed at the development and improvement of the social institute of family in accordance with modern requirement further strengthening of the public's attention to this issue all these are the main directions of the new program.

Over the years of independence, Uzbekistan has ratified more than 60 legal acts on human rights, much of them directly refer to the issues of pro¬tecting human rights and fundamental freedoms of women. The Republic of Uzbekistan is one of the first countries in Central Asia which has joined the UN Convention "On the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women", International Labor Organi¬zation's conventions "On Maternity", "On discrimination in employment and occupation". Today, these docu¬ments are part of a whole set of regula¬tions designed to protect the interests of women and enhance its prestige in the society.

On the initiative of the President the current legislation of the country enacts 30 percent quota for women in the total number of candidates nomi¬nated by each political party to the Oliy Majlis. Women's importance at self-government public institutions (mahalla) rises. There are women's councils at all mahallas of the repub¬lic. They actively address the prob¬lems of women and their families on the ground. There is a post of a con¬sultant on issues of religion, spiritual and moral education at each women's council.

WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR

Much has been made to ensure that women can found her place in today's complex world. Economic activity of women increases each year. Women currently make up more than 45% of all active workforce of the country. The number of women entrepreneurs grows in the country each year too. To¬day, there are over 5 million business women who successfully run their business in the republic.

Along with the government community organizations also sup¬port and protect women's interests iri Uzbekistan. Today, there are more than 40 of them in the country. Their projects make a whole range of programs aimed at providing full support to women. Many important organiza¬tions contribute to implementation; Women's Committee of Uzbekistan, Mehr Nuri Foundation, Republican Public Association Women's Assem¬bly, Social Initiatives Support Fund (SISF), National Association of NGOs of Uzbekistan (NANGOUz), Associa¬tion of Business Women of Uzbekistan "Tadbirkor Ayol" and many others are among them. All these organizations are constantly working to ad¬dress women's issues.
The Fund Forum of Culture and Arts of Uzbekistan makes big sup¬port to business activity. Social Initia¬tives Support Fund with participation of Mehr Nuri Foundation and public organization Women's Assembly has implemented a project which provid¬ed micro-credits to women farmers in seven regions of Uzbekistan.

Women have opportunity to demonstrate their achievements at annually organized national contest Woman of the Year held by Women's Assembly. The main objective pur¬sued by the organizers of the contest is to show women's role in the society, because each women whether she is a simple housewife, or a scientist with advanced degrees, makes her own contribution to peace and prosperity of Uzbekistan.

The national contest Woman of the Year held annually the NGO Women's Assembly provides an opportunity to successful women to demonstrate their achievements. The main objec¬tive is to show the role of women in society, because each of them, whether a housewife or a scientist with ad¬vanced degrees, contributes to peace and prosperity of Uzbekistan.

HEALTHY MOTHER -HEALTHY CHILD -HEALTHY GENERATION

Maternal and child health is a key indicator of socio-economic well-be¬ing of the country. Preserving the gene pool depends primarily on the health of the mother. It is not accidental that care for maternal and child health is among priority of state's policy. To do this, the republic has a highly devel¬oped network of specialized medical institutions which ensure maternal and child health.

As president Islam Karimov pointed out in his holiday greetings, it is hard to overestimate the role and place of women in the implementation of most important task of growing healthy and comprehensively devel¬oped generation.

Today is no exaggeration to say that the program Healthy Mother-Healthy Child has become a national movement, created a unique health care system which includes prenatal and screening centers, maternity and health centers, thousands of rural health' units, emergency medical cent¬ers and specialized academic medical centers in all regions of the country equipped with modern medical equip¬ment and technologies, which will undoubtedly become a truly historic step toward strengthening the health of our population, especially women and children.

The focus of attention is drawn to reproductive health, maternal and child health. Over the years of inde¬pendence Uzbekistan has formed an effective system of care for women's health. Opening and development of 3,200 rural medical units, rigged with modern medical equipment for obstet¬rics, elevated the whole system to a new level. No less important contribu¬tion to this process are made by month¬ly conducted sanitation weeks, which are held among women of childbearing age, adolescent girls and children. During these weeks leading experts from regional and republican medical centers arrive to the most remote rural medical stations where they conduct examination and consultation of local population. Those in need are sent for treatment to the leading medical cent¬ers. Programs to provide women with comprehensive tonic and prophylactic drugs are implemented. As a result, women's life expectancy has increased from 70 to 74.6 years ; the maternal mortality rate has decreased almost three times.

In order to further strengthen the health of women and children an ex¬tensive work was carried out on im¬proving the material-technical base of the Republican specialized scien¬tific-practical medical centers of ob¬stetrics, gynecology, pediatrics, and endocrinology; in the regions the same work was done at regional children’s multipurpose medical centers. Much attention is paid to the development of preventive medicine. The country holds monthly health weeks. During the campaigns, leading experts from national and regional institutions trav¬el to rural medical stations across the country to carry out routine examina¬tion of women and children.

Prophylaxis helps to prevent many diseases and to escape lack of iodine, iron and other micronutrients. Alongside saturating the market with the food fortified with micronutrients, the country implements programs of distributing vitamin complexes to the population. For example, pregnant women who live in rural areas are provided free with multivitamin complex Komplevit mother.

Countering cancer among women, its timely diagnostics, treatment and prevention have great importance on this path. A number of programs are conducted in this field by Wom¬en's Assembly, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan, National Association of Breast Cancer "In the Name of Life," Fund Forum, Europa Donna-Uzbekistan.

Women's Health Support Program is implemented by the Republican As¬sociation "Women's Assembly" since 2008. Various social actions were con¬ducted during the program's imple¬mentation process, such as "Days of women's health," "Days of maternal and child health," "Days of Family Health". During the actions women of childbearing age who surfer from various pathologies were examined; special mobile medical equipment cre¬ated additional conditions for more rapid and qualitative diagnosis.

Physical training is an important component of recovery. A woman, who goes in for sport, not only helps her own health, but also serves as an example for her children. Therefore the country focuses on the involvement of women into sport. All sport facilities are opened before them. That is why it is not a surprise that the importance of coaches and physical teachers for women is raising. Various competi¬tions among women also promote sport among them. Mothers become an example for their children. Over the past two years, the number of girls involved in artistic gymnastics has tri¬pled. There is an increasing number of young female athletes involved in table tennis, swimming and other sports. Today, girls are active partici¬pants of competitions Umid Nihollari, Barkamol Avlod and Universiada.

EDUCATION

Uzbekistan created all condi¬tions for women to find their place in society, to work actively. Various competitions and parades can reveal talents of each of them even during their childhood period. Emphasis is done not only on art. Each girl, grow¬ing in Uzbekistan, knows that what¬ever job she might chosen for herself, she could apply her talents wherever. Representatives of the fair sex have all opportunities in Uzbekistan to get a good education, to develop their in¬born talents, to find and fulfill them¬selves. It is not accidental that the winners of the State Prize of Zulfiya, a contest among young girls who have distinguished themselves in poetry, art, culture, science and education, are announced on the eve of Interna¬tional Women's Day.
In accordance with the national program of training, all children were provided equal conditions for educa¬tion. Vocational education is not only available but also mandatory. It is realized through the full enrollment of children in secondary schools, aca¬demic lyceums and professional col¬leges.

It is also important that the coun¬try has created twelve-year compul¬sory education system which helps to ensure that every girl could step on the path of independent and adult life, having been educated and pos¬sessing a diploma of specialist. Many graduates of colleges and high schools continue their education in higher educational institutions. In some areas of education girls make up more than half of the total number of students.

It is impossible to image science in Uzbekistan without women. Nearly ten of thousands of women scientists are currently developing new methods of diagnostics and treatment, modern teaching approaches to the education of the younger generation. According to experts, the number of women sci¬entists working in the fields of phys¬ics, chemistry and even engineering is increasing from year to year.

Non-profit non-governmental and public organizations play important role in the professional development of women; they implement various educational programs. For example, there are many clubs, associations and centers, which actively and success¬fully operate at Women's Committee. Thus, the Women Leaders Club opens leadership qualities of women at full length, develops leadership skills and improves staff managing. The Club of Talented Girls, which unifies 700 talented girls, organizes each year na¬tional forums where participants dem¬onstrate and discuss their achieve¬ments. Centers for Social Adaptation of Women provide psychological and legal support, teach entrepreneurial and professional skills and assist in job placement.

The respect which woman pos¬ses in modern society of Uzbekistan, proves that women's knowledge, car¬ried through their whole life, are very much appreciated. Women should keep pace with the times and do not forget their essence role in life to be guardian of hearth. After all, their main purpose in this life is to be wives and mothers. From generation to gen¬eration they transmit accumulated wisdom and experience. Our tradi¬tion to celebrate Women's Day, when every woman is surrounded by special attention and love, is beautiful. As one ancient philosopher once said, "The at¬titude towards women is the thinnest gauge of honor, conscience, decency, honor and high school of educating sensibility." (Source: Uzbekistan Today Newspaper)

Varying in Ethnic Origin, yet united as the Uzbek people

At the National Press Center hosted a press conference on ‘Religious tolerance is a prerequisite of progress’ on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Committee for Religious Affairs under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Speaking at the event the participants noted a peaceful coexistence of people of different nationalities in Uzbekistan: they treat each other with warmth and friendliness, and it is not surprising, since religious tolerance has been inherent in Uzbek people from ancient times. Declaration of independence and commitment of the Uzbek government to the ideals of democracy and a temporal way of society development have gradually created legal equal conditions for the existence of religions in general and religious minorities in particular.

The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan ‘On freedom of conscience and religious organizations’ was adopted on May 1, 1998. It proved its efficiency in practicing religious freedom and conscience.
2,225 religious organizations of 16 different confessions currently operate in the Republic of Uzbekistan, including 2,050 Muslim organizations, or 92 percent of the total number.

People professing Islam have been provided with all conditions for free implementation of the five pillars, the obligations of Islam: full commitment to Islam, pray freely in mosques, donate ‘zyakat’, follow fasting on the month of Ramadan and go pilgrimage, the Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

159 Christian organizations, eight Jewish communities, six Baha'i communities, one Hare Krishna community and a Buddhist temple operate in Uzbekistan.

The freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by national law, has created all conditions for religious activity for all the rest citizens, the representatives of more than 135 national and ethnic groups that profess almost all trends of Christianity, Buddhism, Baha'i, Judaism and the teachings of Krishna. The national legislation of Uzbekistan does not provide restrictions on the number of religious organizations or their terms.

Religious education system in Uzbekistan includes the Tashkent Islamic Institute, 9 madrasahs, Orthodox and Protestant seminaries.
Tashkent Islamic University was established in September 1999 in Tashkent at the initiative of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It had its first graduation of Bachelors in 2003, and Masters - in 2005. The university runs an academic lyceum.

A Council for Religions was established under the Committee for Religious Affairs to work closely with religious organizations, to assist different religious confessions, to elaborate together the proposals and measures on ensuring the inter-religious and inter-ethnic peace and accord in the society, cultural development, interfaith dialogue. The Council for Religions brings together the leaders of the Board of Muslims of Uzbekistan, Tashkent and Uzbekistan Eparchy of the ROC, the Roman Catholic Church, the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, the Full Gospel Center Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Jewish community of Tashkent.

The believers in Uzbekistan freely celebrate all religious holidays. For instance, Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha and Ramadan-Adha, Christians - Easter and Christmas, the Jews – Purim, Passover and Hanukkah on a larger scale year by year.

With the overall assistance of the Uzbek government the believers of Uzbekistan go pilgrimage to the holy places: Muslims go to Saudi Arabia for the worship of Hajj and Umrah, Christians go to Russia, Greece and Israel, Jews - to Israel.

Over 80 thousand citizens of the republic had the opportunity to Hajj in Saudi Arabia and more than 1,000 citizens went pilgrimage to Russia, Greece and Israel, the holy places for Christians and Jews, over the years of independence. (Source: Uzbekistan Today News Agency)