26 December, 2006
Politics:
Senate committee considered issues of Reducing State Share in Tashkent and Jizzakh regions
Economics:
BuildExpo 2006 Held In Tashkent with New Trends In Construction Set
Hamkor Bank continues to expand its branch network
Society:
Japan hands over US$78,000 equipment to medical project
Winners of "Kelajak Ovozi 2006" national contest awarded
POLITICS
SENATE COMMITTEE CONSIDERED ISSUES OF REDUCING STATE SHARE IN TASHKENT AND JIZZAKH REGIONS
A regular session of the Senate [upper house] committee of Oliy Majlis [Uzbek parliament] of the Republic of Uzbekistan for budget and economic reforms has discussed the results of studying the performance of the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On reducing state share and privatization" in State Management Committee for state property and its territorial administrations on Tashkent and Jizzakh Regions.
The critical analysis of the activity of the aforementioned department and its territorial administrations in this direction was achieved in the context of the tasks, determined in the report by the president of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Republic of Uzbekistan on 10 February, 2006. It was dedicated to the results of social and economic development in 2005 and the most important priorities to deepen economic reforms in 2006 and resolutions of the president of the Republic of Uzbekistan of 26 April, 2006, PP -335 "On measures to improve the activity of the State Property Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan" and of 10 July, 2006, PP -407 "On deepening processes of reducing state share and privatization processes in 2006-2008".
The Senate committee's session heard information of members of the working group, leaders and officials of this department, and also his territorial administrations, which noted that in accordance with requirements of the aforementioned law specific work was carried out to develop organizational and legal bases to change forms of property, aimed at creating multiestructural market economy, the regulation of relations in the sphere of reducing state share and privatization.
Since the law has been adopted over 84,000 government enterprises and facilities have been privatized, in which more than 940,000 individuals are the holders of securities.
At the same time senators noted that there are specific deficiencies in the work performed. There are still some cases when state property facility, its sale preparation conditions are studied insufficiently and incompletely and evaluated inadequately. Monitoring and support system of enterprises, privatized with conditions of fulfilling investment commitments, require to improve and enhancement the stimulating role in guaranteeing financial stability and increasing volumes and quality of production. Unfortunately, during privatization of state property the principles of openness, validity and effectiveness are frequently not observed. One can see the same situation in relation to rules and requirement of corporate property administration in privatized enterprises and facilities.
The session also noted that conditions of deepening market reforms present new requirements to the content and forms of order, possession and use of property, which causes the need to develop a new edition of this law. In this connection attendees of the session expressed a number of proposals and recommendations.
Summarizing the results of the session, corresponding decisions were adopted.
The committee's session was attended by senators, representatives of the State Property Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan and its territorial administrations, the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and also other state management agencies and non-governmental establishments, the media and experts concerned.
ECONOMICS
BUILDEXPO 2006 HELD IN TASHKENT WITH NEW TRENDS IN CONSTRUCTION SET
The First International Exhibition BuildExpo 2006 was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Tashkent. More than 30 companies from Germany, Kazakhstan, China, Russia, the US, Turkey and Uzbekistan specializing in the production of building materials and equipment were represented at this exhibition.
A broad selection of various products they manufacture were reflected in the following sections: building and decoration materials, wooden and metal structures, aluminum, plastic and wooden windows and doors, sanitary engineering, heating and air conditioning systems, glazed Dutch tile and facade coating materials.
Notwithstanding the fact that BuildExpo 2006 was the first event of the kind ever organized in Uzbekistan, some experts present at the exhibition emphasized its utmost importance for the country in terms of establishing long-term contacts with foreign leaders in the construction industry.
The "BuildExpo 2006 Exhibition is staged for the first time, and I hope it will become, in due course of the time, a traditional event in Tashkent capable of featuring the entire spectrum of development tendencies and growth prospects that exist in the construction market of Uzbekistan. For many domestic and overseas representatives, participation in a given exhibition is a benchmark event, designed to strengthen their links and to exchange advanced technologies with each other", has said E. Akramov, chairman of Uzstroymaterialy's Board of Directors.
The vast geography of its participants plus a broad range of produce on show enabled the specialist visitors to the exhibition to get a wealth of comprehensive information on new trends in the construction sector and, above all, to invigorate the process of building modern quality premises across the Republic, the report concluded.
HAMKOR BANK CONTINUES TO EXPAND ITS BRANCH NETWORK
Hamkor Bank has opened a new mini-bank "Shark" in Khorezm region and a mini-bank "Mukimiy" in Kokand.
The minibanks will provide a wide range of banking services, including money transfers by means of Western Union, Contact, Unistream and Bystraya Pochta money transfer systems.
The mini-banks will also conduct credit operations, issue consumer loans for various needs of the population, accept deposits, and conduct municipal service payments and currency operations.
Hamkor Bank was founded on 30 August 1991 as Andijon Bank. The Bank's head office is located in the city of Andijan. It was renamed on 1 July 2000.
Today the bank's total capital comprises 16 billion soums. This puts the bank into the category of medium-sized commercial banks of Uzbekistan.
SOCIETY
JAPAN HANDS OVER US$78,000 EQUIPMENT TO MEDICAL PROJECT
First Medical College hosted a handing over ceremony of medical equipment for US$78,000, donated by the government of Japan to the project Nursing Education Improvement Project, on 22 December.
The equipment includes various stimulators, models of human organs, models for rendering first aid, various training apparatus and others.
Nursing Education Improvement Project was launched in July 2004. Five-year project implemented in cooperation with Health Ministry and Higher and Secondary Special Education Ministry of Uzbekistan.
The project allowed to introduce new lessons to curriculum of the medical colleges in Uzbekistan. The project also plans to introduce new curriculum. It is also planned to introduce new equipment for medical practice.
Target of the project is to bring medical education in all 56 medical colleges in Uzbekistan to client oriented principles.
WINNERS OF "KELAJAK OVOZI 2006" NATIONAL CONTEST AWARDED
Press conference with participation of finalists, jury and members of Public Council of the "Kelajak Ovozi" (Voice of the future) contest was held at the National Press Centre on 20 December.
The National contest of gifted youth "Kelajak Ovozi" was announced for the first time by the Fund Forum of Culture and Art of Uzbekistan jointly with the Central Council of Kamolot public youth movement in November 2005. In 2006, the contest was organized for the second time and covered some 10,000 boys and girls in all areas of Uzbekistan.
The contest is aimed at finding talented youth, encouragement of their creativity and realization of the most interesting projects and ideas.
The peculiarity of this contest is that it includes virtually all directions of creativity, which are interesting for the modern youth, and covers wide age audience – from 15 to 25. At the same time, participation of nearly 10,000 young people is record-breaking for the contests earlier held in Uzbekistan.
Notably, the national stage of the contest is not just a competition, but also an opportunity for participants to obtain new friends, exchange ideas and get a lot of impressions from staying in Tashkent on the eve of the New Year.
Youth campaign in honour of finalists of the "Kelajak Ovozi 2006" and ceremony of awarding winners of the programme of educational grants of 2006/07 academic year were held within the framework of this contest at the Central exhibition hall of the Uzbek Arts Academy on 19 December.
Solemn ceremony of awarding winners of "Kelajak Ovozi 2006" contest was held at Drujba Narodov palace on 21 December. It was organized with performance of pop stars and famous figures of science, culture and art. The gala concert was one of the most colourful campaigns of the year, which demonstrated brightly the potential of modern Uzbek youth.