6 July, 2006

Politics
Uzbek head expresses condolences to Spain over Valencia tragedy
Uzbek lawmakers’ visit to the European countries
UNDP projects presented for diplomatic corps, international organizations

Economics
LUKOIL overseas launches new sales route for Karachaganak oil
Uzbek companies, Huawei to produce CDMA-450 phones
Specialists of Toe Engineering Corporation share knowledge with Uzbek colleagues
Uzbek fruit, vegetable supplies cut prices in Kazakhstan
40% of Afghans to get electricity by 2009 - report

Society
Second national congress on family education to be held in Tashkent
Training of cynologist-frontier guards to last until 30 September
German doctors examine children in Syrdarya region
Uzbek children to be treated in Europe
Germany sends humanitarian aid for 425,000 euros to Uzbekistan
Control over melon and gourds' compliance with sanitary norms reinforced
Uzbek ensemble at the International Festival of Folk Dancing in Astana
Month of Origami at Japanese Cultural Center in Tashkent


POLITICS

UZBEK HEAD EXPRESSES CONDOLENCES TO SPAIN OVER VALENCIA TRAGEDY

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov sent his condolences to King of Spain Juan Carlos and chairman of the government Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in connection with tragedy in subway in Valencia.

The Uzbek leader’s message said: "With deep sorrow, Uzbekistan received sad news on tragedy in subway in Valencia, which took lives of many people. On behalf of people of Uzbekistan, government and my own I express sincere condolences to you and families of victims."

According to latest data, the accident took lives of 41 people, including five foreigners, and some 50 were injured. The accident took place on Monday. (UzReport.com)

UZBEK LAWMAKERS’ VISIT TO THE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Delegation of Uzbekistan’s Oliy Majlis (lower chamber of parliament) visited Austria. Deputies led by Ms. Mashkura Safayeva, vice-speaker at the Uzbek parliament held meetings with their Austrian colleagues. Issues related to law making process and daily activity of the parliament members were discussed at the negotiations.

Austrian parliament has a 120 years-long history and is of great interest for the parliamentarians of many countries around the world. While a federative state Austria has managed to build up an efficient parliament system that plays a significant role in country’s life.

Uzbek parliamentarians talked to the leadership of the National Assembly (Parliament’s lower chamber) and Parliament of the federal land of Lower Austria. Deputies shared opinions o¬n different issues concerning legislative initiative, legislation procedure, and implementation of parliamentary control, creation and exploit of the information-analytical base for the relations with the public and NGO.

It is worth noting that Uzbek delegation arrived in Vienna via Moscow (Russia) where it had had meetings with Russian deputies at the State Duma (Lower house of parliament). Following the visit Uzbek delegation is to fly to Lisbon and Paris to meet with Portuguese and French parliamentarians. (“Jahon” Information Agency)

UNDP PROJECTS PRESENTED FOR DIPLOMATIC CORPS, INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The presentations the United Nations Development Programme's "Reforming Tax System and Developing New Revision of Tax Code" and "Improving Tax Administration in Uzbekistan" Projects were held on 5 July for diplomatic corps and representatives of international organizations in Tashkent.

The projects are being implemented since 2005 in line with the request of the Uzbek Government. Projects aim to provide technical assistance in conducting tax reform and improving tax administration.

Tax legislation is of practical interest to all citizens - taxpayers as well as to national private sector and foreign investors. In the framework of the ongoing economic reforms, accelerating privatization, provision of additional incentives for development of private sector and inflow of foreign investments, the issue of developing favorable tax regime plays vital role in creating investment-friendly image of the country.

The objective of the presentation was to raise the awareness of the foreign embassies, international and trade missions in Uzbekistan of the projects' activities in the framework of their cooperation with the Government in tax policy transformation. Furthermore, the presentation aimed at expanding the dialogue on tax reforms in the country, determining further technical assistance required in the area and informing international community about the course of economic reforms.

Heads of missions accredited in Uzbekistan, embassy counselors on trade and economic affairs, representatives of international intergovernmental organization, international development institutions, and representatives of key ministries and agencies of Uzbekistan involved in the tax reform process as well as representatives of business sector, taxation and tax administration specialists participated at the event.

Moreover presentations were made by the representatives of the Finance Ministry and State Tax Committee of Uzbekistan. The participants were informed on the strategic dimensions of tax reform, conceptual approaches envisioned in the New Revision of Tax Code and measures for improvement of organizational and legal mechanism of tax administration. Also, a demo-version of the software package named "Receipt and processing tax returns and financial reports of taxpayers by forming statistical reports by the state tax authorities" was presented to the audience as simulated online operation of software application.

This software package is being developed by Research and Information Center of New Technologies of STC with the support of UNDP Improving Tax Administration in Uzbekistan Project. Experimental version of the package is being piloted in the Mirabad district of the city of Tashkent. (UzReport.com)

ECONOMICS

LUKOIL OVERSEAS LAUNCHES NEW SALES ROUTE FOR KARACHAGANAK OIL

The first tanker loaded with production from Karachaganak, an oil, gas and condensate field located in Northwest Kazakhstan, departed from Odessa oil loading terminal. A total of 10,000 tonnes of REBCO (Russian export blend crude oil) crude was dispatched of the tanker Seasong chartered by major oil trader.

The new export route for Karachaganak crude is the result of an extended joint effort by Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO), the international operating consortium, where LUKOIL is a partner with a 15% interest, and KazTransOil (Kazakhstan). In accordance with the long-tern agreement between KPO and KazTransOil the crude is pumped via the Karachaganak – Bolshoy Chagan – Samara route. Out of Samara, the crude can be directed either to Black Sea or Baltic ports or directly to Central Europe via the Druzhba pipeline depending on Transneft's export schedule.

Shipping volumes are currently at 20,000 tonnes per month. They will be increased gradually in the future.

The route complements well the existing Karachaganak crude shipping system through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and to the Orenburg Gas Plant. The route offers good economics and opens new potential markets for Karachaganak crude. (UzReport.com)

UZBEK COMPANIES, HUAWEI TO PRODUCE CDMA-450 PHONES

Uzbektelecom, Uzbek national telecom operator, and Koinot are planning to launch assembly production of CDMA-450 mobile phones in cooperation with China's Huawei Technologies Co., Uzbektelecom General Director Hakim Mukhiddinov told journalists. "We have significantly progressed in negotiations on the project's terms and conditions," Mukhiddinov said. The parties have basically agreed upon the project's technical parameters and are planning to decide on the terms of assembly of mobile phones in the near future, he said.

Uzbektelecom said that the factory should be opened in Margilan in Ferghana region. The plant's capacity should be about 20,000 handsets a year.

"The Chinese company will ship the equipment for assembling mobile phones in August and September, and it should undergo testing by the end of the year," the company said.

The company's form of ownership has not yet been agreed upon, the Uzbektelecom said. "This could be a joint venture or an enterprise with 100% Uzbek capital assembling mobile phones out of Chinese components based on franchise agreement," he said. The project's cost has yet to be clarified, he said. (UzReport.com)

SPECIALISTS OF TOE ENGINEERING CORPORATION SHARE KNOWLEDGE WITH UZBEK COLLEAGUES

Project Management and Engineering Course will be taught at the Uzbek-Japanese Center of Human Resource Development on 4-21 July.

Uzbek-Japanese Center together with the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS) and Toe Engineering Corporation (TEC) under the assistance of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Uzbekistan has organized a three-week business programme in Tashkent. The course will be taught to the managers and top executives of large state companies, as well as representatives of foreign, private companies and joint ventures with the experience of at least three years.

The programme of the course includes lectures, exercises and case studies. Classes will be held by the senior consultants of the TEC Shoichi Fujisava, and Shigeo Miyajima. The course will be conducted based on a special study manuals and samples of documents used in international business practice, which should allow trainees gain practical business knowledge.

In the course of the training, participants will familiarize with the methods of tackling different sorts of issues concerning the management of projects, such as integrated management, managing content, schedule, costs, quality, organization, project interaction, risks and other specific management problems, particularly in the spheres of engineering, construction, offers, contracts, administration, supply, logistics, environmental protection, commonly accepted in the international practice. (UzReport.com)

UZBEK FRUIT, VEGETABLE SUPPLIES CUT PRICES IN KAZAKHSTAN

KazAgroMarketing JSC published a review of prices in Kazakhstan. The report illustrates that the prices for apples and tomatoes in the country have gone down.

The drop in prices is explained by the fact that along with Chinese apples, much cheaper apples of the new harvest from Uzbekistan saturated the market. As for tomatoes, several factors appear to have affected the prices, including seasonal increase in the supply, as well as difficulties with preserving the product, as tomatoes are included in the category of perishable goods. (UzReport.com)

40% OF AFGHANS TO GET ELECTRICITY BY 2009 - REPORT

About 40% of Afghans across the country will get electricity by 2009 under a new plan to import power from the Central Asian countries, Asia Pulse reported on 4 July.

According to energy and water ministry officials, currently 10.06% of the population have access to power.

Mission Director of the Untied States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Afghanistan, Alonzo Fulgham, told reporters here that Afghanistan would import electricity from Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, according to the plan.

The electricity would also be transferred to Pakistan via Afghanistan from the Central Asian countries. India, Asian Development Bank, World Bank and the USAID would be funding the project, the report said.

Electricity for the remaining people would be ensured through windmill and solar-system power production factories with cheaper rates than current, said Fulgham.

The director also briefed journalists about activities of the agency during the past three years. He said USAID spent US$3.5 billion in the fields of economic growth, education, health, revival of infrastructures, agriculture, demobilisation of armed militias, poppy prevention programs and nation-building.

He said the agency had $1.4 billion budget for its operations for the coming four years, out of which US $622 millions was for the current fiscal year's budget of the Afghan government. (UzReport.com)

SOCIETY

SECOND NATIONAL CONGRESS ON FAMILY EDUCATION TO BE HELD IN TASHKENT

Second national congress on family education will take place in Tashkent on 7-8 July. The event organized by UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in Uzbekistan in cooperation with Women's Committee of Uzbekistan.

The congress aimed at strengthening cooperation of state bodies, NGOs, public and international organizations. (UzReport.com)

TRAINING OF CYNOLOGIST-FRONTIER GUARDS TO LAST UNTIL 30 SEPTEMBER

The Second Regional Training Workshop for cynologist-frontier guards of Central Asia is taking place on the territory of the Central nursery of the Border Services of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan (BS NSC RK) near Almaty. Some 25 frontier guards – five from Kazakhstan, same number from Turkmenistan, seven from Kyrgyzstan and eight from Uzbekistan are participating in the event.

The seminar has been organized in the framework of the UN programmes to assist the administration of border services and prevent the drug trafficking on the territory of Central Asian states with the assistance of the European Union. These programmes are implemented in five countries of Central Asia and aim at raising the efficiency of border service administration in the region.

The best specialists of the Central Nursery of the BS NSC RK , Regional Cynologists Center, Customs Control Committee of the Finance Ministry of Kazakhstan and Cynologists Center of the Internal Affairs Ministry of Kazakhstan are holding the workshops.

In the course of the training, participants will be taught to care after and breed dogs for search and border service purposes and train them to find drugs and explosives. 25 German shepherds were bought specifically for this purpose. At the end of the training, trainees will have to take an exam. They will be awarded certificates and continue service with the trained dogs in their home countries.

The seminar will last until 30 September. (UzReport.com)

GERMAN DOCTORS EXAMINE CHILDREN IN SYRDARYA REGION

Representatives of Friendensdorf International (Peace Village International, Germany) visited Syrdarya region and examined some 28 disabled children.

The German doctors gave their recommendations on treatment and adopted decision to send three children from region to German clinics to carry out operations.

The delegation of Friendensdorf International headed by the organisation's director Ronald Gegenfrutner and the member of the organization Maria Tinnefeld visited Uzbekistan and examined children from various parts of the country. (UzA)

UZBEK CHILDREN TO BE TREATED IN EUROPE

A delegation of Friendensdorf International (Peace Village International) headed by the organisation's director Ronald Gegenfrutner and the member of the organization Maria Tinnefeld paid a visit to Uzbekistan. The visit was conducted in the framework of cooperation with Soglom Avlod Uchun (For the Healthy Generation) International Foundation in organization of treatment of Uzbek children in the hospitals of Europe.

On 1 July, the delegation visited children who need treatment abroad at the medical-social center of Soglom Avlod Uchun Foundation. The specialists of Firiendensdorf-International examined the children together with the doctors of the Ministry of Healthcare of Uzbekistan and Solgom Avlod Uchun Foundation. These children come from different parts of Uzbekistan, including Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya, Jizzakh, Bukhara, Navoi, Syrdarya regions and the city of Tashkent.

The same day, the delegation met Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Svetlana Inamova. The efforts of Soglom Avlod Uchun Foundation are directed at supporting healthiness of the new generation, protecting mothers and children, creating favourable conditions for the children's physical, intellectual and moral development. One of the priority areas in the organisation's activity is cooperation with the foreign organizations for the purpose of implementing joint humanitarian programmes, including projects on the treatment of the children of Uzbekistan in the best hospitals of the world.

In July 2002, a trilateral agreement was signed between the Healthcare Ministry of Uzbekistan, Soglom Avlod Uchun Foundation, and Friendensdorf International Organisation, founded in 1967. The document envisions the implementation of the joint programme on the treatment of children in the clinics of Europe. It is the fourth year now that in the framework of the programme, Friendensdorf International accepts children in Germany, and provides medical assistance to children that cannot be treated in Uzbekistan.

It should be noted that Soglom Avlod Uchun Foundation together with the Healthcare Ministry not only examines and selects the children, who need foreign treatment, but also accompanies them.

As a result of the programme, several hundreds of children from Uzbekistan received treatment in the best hospitals of Germany. It is remarkable that from year to year, the programme develops and expands. (UzReport.com)

GERMANY SENDS HUMANITARIAN AID FOR 425,000 EUROS TO UZBEKISTAN

German state and medical establishments have sent a humanitarian aid to Uzbekistan worth 425,000 euros. The health body of Berlin, Geksal, Altana and others contributed to the humanitarian cargo. The cargo includes medicaments, expensive sterilizer, operation lamps, wheelchair, equipment for eye surgery and others.

The aid will be used to equip medical establishments in Uzbekistan and Soglom Avlod Uchin international charity foundation will distribute cargo to Uzbek medical establishments.

The humanitarian cooperation is important part of Uzbek-German relations and the German side provided humanitarian aid for 1.16 million euros in 2005. (“Jahon” Information Agency)

CONTROL OVER MELON AND GOURDS' COMPLIANCE WITH SANITARY NORMS REINFORCED

Each consignment of melons and gourds to be sold in the retail markets of Uzbekistan to the population, are carefully checked by the specialists of the labs of vet-sanitary expert commission of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Management of Uzbekistan and the territorial centers of the State Sanitary Epidemic Supervision, said the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Uzbekistan, Deputy Minister of Healthcare Bahtiyar Niyazmatov.

According to Niyazmatov, this year over 13,450 samples of melons and gourds have been tested in the laboratories. Of them, 2.9% were found incompliant with the sanitary norms. B. Niyazmatov rejected the hearsays about allegedly increased number of incidents of melon and water melon poisoning.

"No increase in the number of food poisoning incidents has been observed during the period from mid-May up to now among the population of the country," he said.

During the recent years, several laws have been adopted in Uzbekistan aiming at protection of the population's health. "This created a legal framework for the protection of food products' safety, thereby not only maintaining but also strengthening state service of sanitary supervision," emphasized Deputy Minister of Healthcare. (UzReport.com)

UZBEK ENSEMBLE AT THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FOLK DANCING IN ASTANA

International Festival of Folk Dancing "Kosalka" will open on 4 July in the capital of Kazakhstan.

The residents and guests of Astana will have the opportunity to see the concert of the Kazakh Folk Dance Ensemble "Naz", and dance troupes from throughout CIS. Groups that will take part in the festival are very popular in their home countries, which is why the organisers expect the professional level of the festival to be high.

The same day, Kazakh capital will host the concert of the State Singing and Dancing Ensemble "Uzbekiston" and State Russian Dancing Ensemble "Ogonki" (Sparks) of Altai Krai. The following day, the audience will see the performance of the State Singing and Dancing Ensemble of Tatarstan and Georgian National Ballet named after Suhishvili and Ramishvili.

The festival has the potential to become a regular event. (UzReport.com)

MONTH OF ORIGAMI AT JAPANESE CULTURAL CENTER IN TASHKENT

Japanese cultural centre of Uzbekistan decided to designate July as the month of the amazing Oriental art of Origami. Origami is the art of folding paper into the models of birds, animals, fantastic creatures, dinosaurs, and finally paper airplanes. The word originals from the Japanese "ori" for folding and "gami" for paper.

The true origami uses no glue or scissors. A piece of paper is folded to make the most wonderful things. The art has its roots in the 1-2 century in China. In the 4th century it passed on to Japan, where it gained a new life. Origami is an integral part of the Japanese culture.

According to the Japanese traditions, paper models are valued not only for the realism of the portrayal of the forms of birds, animals or flowers, but also for the "spirit" inherent in a particular peace of nature. In Europe, the art was first regarded as a simple children's game, and was recognized as art relatively recently. Today, there are many people who got interested in it and started to invent new forms, come up with interesting and complex models. Origami is becoming increasingly original. After certain time, module origami consisting of several peaces of paper, still without scissors and glue, was introduced.

Today, practically anything can be made of paper: from a small box to a huge skeleton of a dinosaur of natural height. Origami develops logical thinking, patience, persistence, and creativity. To make truly interesting and complex models, one needs to study the most simple ones, such as a simple airplane.

On 6 July, Japanese Center will host the selection round of the Third Origami Contest among children and adults. On 10-11 July origami lessons will be held in dedication to the Sea Day. On 14 July the final round of the Third Origami Contest will be held and the names of the winners will be announced. On 18 and 21 July, Japanese specialist Inaba Yasushi will hold origami lessons entitled "Let's make a paper airplane" for the children aged 7 to 16. (UzReport.com)