April 07, 2010
Politics:
President of Uzbekistan receives head of US Centcom
President of Uzbekistan receives UN Secretary General
SCO RATS Council holds session in Tashkent
Economics:
Uzbekistan-Vietnam business forum held
Boosting Export Capacities
Large-Scale Effects of Small-Scale Investments
Society:
Cabinet’s social issues and IT complex sums up 1Q results
Biomarkaz in Limelight
Ahead With Innovations
POLICY
PRESIDENT OF UZBEKISTAN RECEIVES HEAD OF US CENTCOM
President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received Commander of the US Central Command General David Petraeus at Oqsaroy residence in Tashent on 6 April.
Welcoming the guest, the head of the state said the level of the current Uzbek-American relations was strong and stable, and are developing on a constructive and equal basis.
Uzbekistan and the USA are interacting in stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan and this country’s socioeconomic rehabilitation. Uzbekistan provides practical assistance to its southern neighbor, supplying Afghanistan with electricity, construction materials and foodstuffs, as well as participating in construction of transport infrastructure.
At the meeting in Oqsaroy, General David Petraeus expressed sincere gratitude to the President of Uzbekistan for the warm welcome and noted that the US administration was interested in strengthening bilateral relations.
He also highlighted the importance of the initiatives of the leadership of Uzbekistan in stabilizing the situation in the neighboring Afghanistan.
During the talks, the sides exchanged opinions on the issues of further development of Uzbek-US cooperation and other areas of mutual interest. (Source: National News Agency UzA)
PRESIDENT OF UZBEKISTAN RECEIVES UN SECRETARY GENERAL
President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received Secretary General of the United Nations Organization Ban Ki-Moon at Oqsaroy residence in Tashkent on 5 April.
Welcoming the guest, the head of the state noted the high level of fruitful cooperation of the country with the UN on many important directions of regional development.
“I consider your visit to the states of the region, including Uzbekistan, as a significant event and as a proof of the high interest of the UN to our region. This is a good opportunity to consider the issues of ensuring stability and security, sustainable development, use of water-energy and mineral resources, environmental protection and many other issues that concern the people of the region,” the President of the country said.
“I am glad to work jointly with my Uzbek colleagues in the framework of solution of issues of general agenda between Uzbekistan and our organization,” the head of the United Nations said. “Having flown over the Aral Sea, I personally saw the scale of the negative influence of this catastrophe on the whole ecosystem of the region. I met with people living in the region of the environmental disaster. It is hard to imagine the hardships that virtually the whole region has to encounter. I highly evaluate the chairmanship of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which, undoubtedly, is extremely important for ensuring peace, stability and solution of many important issues of regional and international development.”
Among the most important issues in the cooperation of Uzbekistan and the UN are counteracting modern threats and challenges, environmental degradation, minimizing the consequences of the Aral Sea catastrophe, as well as many other directions of modern international relations. Uzbekistan has put forward important initiatives to improve the situation in the neighboring Afghanistan and is providing effective assistance in implementation of various UN programs on socioeconomic rehabilitation of this country.
On the initiative of Uzbekistan, which is currently chairing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the UN General Assembly adopted a Resolution last December on cooperation between the UNO and the SCO. The efficient combination of the huge experience and potential of the international organizations opens new perspectives in ensuring international and regional security.
During the meeting at Oqsaroy residence, Ban Ki-Moon thanked Islam Karimov for warm welcome, emphasizing the interest of the UN in further strengthening of cooperation with Uzbekistan. The UN Secretary General highly assessed the consistent and constructive approach of the President of Uzbekistan to the solution of the important issues of regional and international development.
At the end of the meeting of the President of Uzbekistan and the UN Secretary General, a Joint declaration on cooperation between the Secretariats of the United Nations Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was signed. (Source: National News Agency UzA)
SCO RATS COUNCIL HOLDS SESSION IN TASHKENT
The 16th session of the Council of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in Tashkent on 2 April. Representatives of Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan participated in the meeting.
The RATS Council condemned the terrorist acts that took place in Moscow in March, leading to numerous casualties, and called for the further consolidation of the efforts of SCO member states in fighting with terrorism.
The complex measures of the SCO member countries to assist Russia in ensuring safety of events related to celebrations of the 65th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, as well as Uzbekistan in ensuring security of the SCO summit in Tashkent were approved.
The participants listened to the reports of the RATS Executive Committee director D.Djumanbekov on the implementation of the RATS Council decisions and of the SCO member states’ program of cooperation in fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism for 2007-2009. The draft RATS Council report to the SCO Heads of States Council on the RATS activity in 2009 was approved.
The meeting participants also considered issues of improvement of cooperation in fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism. They agreed that the RATS activities were adequate to the modern challenges and threats in fighting the “three evils”.
To deepen cooperation, the sides agreed to hold regular meetings of competent bodies to exchange information and to create a group to coordinate the joint fight with illegal activities of one of the large international terrorist organizations.
In the framework of the Program of cooperation of SCO member states in fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism for 2010-2012, the sides approved the proposal to hold joint anti-terrorist drill in 2010 on the territory of Russia.
The participants also agreed to hold the next session of the SCO RATS Council in September in Almaty, Kazakhstan. (Source: National News Agency UzA)
ECONOMY
UZBEKISTAN-VIETNAM BUSINESS FORUM HELD
The forum of business circles of Uzbekistan and Vietnam was held in Tashkent on 6 April.
The participants of the event considered issues of development of bilateral trade, economic and investment cooperation.
Minister of Economy of Uzbekistan Sunatilla Bekenov and Vice Prime Minister of Vietnam Hoang Chung Hai chaired the forum.
The Vietnamese businessmen received information on the priority directions of attraction of investments in the economy of Uzbekistan.
Vietnam is one of the reliable partners of Uzbekistan in the Asia-Pacific region. The cooperation between the two countries is based on many interstate, intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents.
In Uzbekistan, 10 joint ventures created with Vietnamese investments operate. They specialize on trade, food and silk industries.
Hoang Chung Hai praised the current level of cooperation between the two countries and expressed readiness of Vietnam’s businesses to expand cooperation with Uzbekistan.
At the end of the business forum, a cooperation exchange with participation of Uzbek and Vietnamese companies was held.
The members of the Vietnam’s delegation also visited a number of ministries and departments of Uzbekistan for talks on cooperation development. (Source: National News Agency UzA)
BOOSTING EXPORT CAPACITIES
A garment-producing joint venture Libinvest has managed to cardinally redirect its business for export. Last year, for example, $1 million output in its near entirety went to post-Soviet countries. The enterprise, which has realized investments exceeding $630,000 from Germany’s Frasal, aspires to even greater accomplishments this year.
“Our joint venture was established more than 10 years ago,” says director general Jahongir Sharipov. “I believe the favorable investment climate and tax incentives created in Uzbekistan for entrepreneurs provide good grounds for our success. Therefore, in the course of our cooperation with German partners we have increased the authorized capital of the JV almost three times, bringing it to $845,000.”
For the home market the joint venture manufactures windows and doors from PVC. (Source: Uzbekistan Today newspaper)
LARGE-SCALE EFFECTS OF SMALL-SCALE INVESTMENTS
Increased capacities of micro financing sector has facilitated growth in population’s business activity.
Through its own extensive regional network, Mikrokreditbank directs its efforts to support entrepreneurial initiatives in rural areas, to fund innovation projects, and form an initial capital for setting up new businesses and jobs.
According to the Agency of Financial Sector Development at the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, in 2009, banks allocated 120 billion soums more of micro loans to small and entrepreneurial businesses than in 2008. This has dramatically affected the growth in borrowers’ business activity, the emergence of new opportunities for self-realization, and creation of a developed layer of owners.
Along with an increasing role of commercial banks in financing small and entrepreneurial businesses and farmers, the potential of microfinance organizations in Uzbekistan is also growing. There is an enabling legal environment established in the country, laws “On credit unions”, “On Microfinance organizations”, “On microfinancing”, in 2007 the government adopted a program of development of microfinance services by 2010. As a result, the assets and total capital of credit unions nearly doubled in 2009.
The dynamic growth in the microfinance sector in the country is confirmed by the fact that last year the number of members of credit unions - mainly individuals – increased 1.5-folf.
As of the beginning of 2010, there were 103 credit unions in the country, 32 microfinance organizations, 48 pawnshops. The amount of micro loans issued by these non-bank credit organizations in 2009 alone exceeded 193 billion soums.
National banks, in addition to the allocation of their own funds to the private sector, provide services on credit lines of international financial institutions such as IBRD, EBRD, ADB, IDB, Germany’s KFW Bankengruppe for microfinance support to small businesses.
According to the Financial Sector Agency, three more projects were launched this year to further the development of microfinance sector. They are implemented by the Central Bank, jointly with the UNDP, German Society for Technical Cooperation and International Finance Corporation. (Source: Uzbekistan Today newspaper)
SOCIETY
CABINET’S SOCIAL ISSUES AND IT COMPLEX SUMS UP 1Q RESULTS
The session of the Cabinet of Ministers’ Complex for education, healthcare, social protection, information systems and telecommunications was held in Tashkent.
The participants considered the results of development of the named sectors in the fist quarter of 2010.
The ministries and departments of the complex produced products and provided services worth UZS 616.4 billion in the first quarter, which is 19.4% more than in the same period of last year.
The volume of paid services to the population comprised UZS 286.9 billion.
Foreign investments equal to USD 48 million were attracted to the complex’s sectors in the first quarter.
The session also considered issues of improvement of legislation related to protection of the interests of youth, reconstruction and construction of educational institute ions, attraction of young people to science and protection of youth from negative influences.
Other issues on the agenda were expansion of ICT use in state bodies and local authorities, as well as electronic document circulation. (Source: National News Agency UzA)
BIOMARKAZ IN LIMELIGHT
Students of the Tashkent State Agrarian University – future specialists for biology laboratories on breeding and applying ‘constructive’ insects in combating pests – acquire some practical skills in Biomarkaz, Scientific Research Center for Biological Protection of Plants, one of the departments at the university.
Incidentally, having become specialists, they return to Biomarkaz, for the advanced training. They arrive there from all corners of the republic not only to acquire some knowledge but also for the so called “uterine material”. In fact, they breed the necessary quantity of useful insects in local laboratories seasonally, but Biomarkaz center keeps breeding those insects all year round. Besides, the academics of the center develop some new and more effective ways of breeding useful species and struggling against newly emerging pests. (Source: Uzbekistan Today newspaper)
AHEAD WITH INNOVATIONS
The month of March has been very productive innovation-wise for doctors. Two new surgeries have been conducted in the country: one in the Republican Center of Low Invasive Surgery and Endovisual Children Surgery, the other - in the Republican Specialized Center of Surgery of Vahidov.
Children's surgeons grasped new methods of correction of congenital malformation of the colon, which in medical practice is called Hirschsprung's disease. When a patient has this disease the one way to return normal operation of the body is a surgery. The surgery can be carried out in the traditional way, and by laparoscopic method that was grasped by the national specialists.
“Previously, we had to divide the surgery for patients with this diagnosis in several stages, in addition, the patients were left big and ugly scars,” said Shavkat Salimov, director of the National Center of Low Invasive Surgery and Endovisual Children Surgery. “As part of the exchange of experiences with the Moscow State Medical Institute, we have grasped the laparoscopic method. The advantages are obvious: the surgery is conducted at one time, there are practically no complications and no scars.”
For the first time in Uzbekistan, doctors of the Center of Vahidov conducted a surgery of dysplasia of aortic wall of the heart within the program on exchange of experiences with colleagues from the Italian Hospital Riuniti. This pathology causes the aorta that is responsible for supplying the body with blood to greatly expand which is a threat to the patient’s life. The surgery returns the blood supply to a normal rhythm.
“This disease is a rather rare pathology,” said Hakimzhan Abrolov, head of the surgery department of the National Surgery Center. “Nonetheless, the surgery our experts grasped is of great importance for improving the quality of medical care. Now, such treatment is available in the country. (Source: Uzbekistan Today newspaper)