24 March, 2006

Content:

Politics

President of Uzbekistan to visit South Korea next week

Economy

New bridge commissioned on Samarkand-Bukhara-Turkmenistan highway
LUKOIL Overseas to develop cooperation with Uzbekistan
GAZPROMAVIA Opens Flights from Moscow to Nukus

Society

Uzbekistan’s mahalla leaders attend budgeting course
Uzbek independent media support foundation set up
Foreign donors to give Uzbekistan 240 mln USD to develop education
Uzbek disadvantaged kids get 1.5 mln USD grant from Japan
Foundation aids hospital in Uzbekistan

Culture

140 national centers present programs at Navruz celebrations
Uzbek students discuss Russian literature of 19-20 centuries
Russian Garden opens in Tashkent

POLITICS

PRESIDENT OF UZBEKISTAN TO VISIT SOUTH KOREA NEXT WEEK

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov will pay a state visit to South Korea, starting from 28 March, on the invitation of this country's President Roh Moo-Hyun.

During the visit, the heads of two states are expected to discuss deepening Uzbek-South Korean relations, development of trade and economic cooperation, and ties in other spheres.

Important regional and international problems of mutual interest will also be considered.

A number of bilateral agreements will be signed during the visit.

ECONOMY

NEW BRIDGE COMMISSIONED ON SAMARKAND-BUKHARA-TURKMENISTAN HIGHWAY

A new bridge has been commissioned on the Samarkand-Bukhara-Turkmenistan highway on the territory of Vabkent district of Uzbekistan. The works have been implemented in the framework of the repairs of the 2-km part of the highway.

A total of UZS 901m were spent for reconstruction. The highway and the bridge have a width of 21.6 meters, and the bridge is 55 meters long.

Regional governor S.Khusenov participated in the opening ceremony of the bridge.

LUKOIL OVERSEAS TO DEVELOP COOPERATION WITH UZBEKISTAN

On Feb 26 in Tashkent the Investors' Consortium of Uzbekneftegaz, LUKOIL Overseas, Korea National Oil Corporation, Petronas Carigali and CNPC International held the presentation of the resource potential of the Uzbekistan section of the Aral Sea.

The Consortium was created in Tashkent on September 8, 2005. In accordance with the dirtective issued by the President of the Repuiblic of Uzbekistan on December 2, 2005, the Consortium prepared the draft Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) and provided it to the Special State Commission.

The information presented in the course of the presentation included the details of the members of the Investors' Consortium, geological and technical assessment of the resource potential of the Uzbekistan section of the Aral Sea and main provisions of the draft PSA.

Attraction of foreign investments for facilitated and large-scale exploration aimed at ensuring the advanced increment of hydrocarbon feedstock is a priority aspect for developing the economy of the republic of Uzbekistan. Implementation of the investment project for carrying out the exploration work in the uzbek section of the Aral Sea is fully in line with the mentioned priorities.

The Special State Commission and Investors' Consortium will endeavor to agree the text of the PSA as soon as possible and start the implementation of the investment project.

The results of geological studies previously carried out by the Uzbek and foreign specialists demonstrate that the area of the Aral Sea is prolific of oil and gas, according to www.Lukoil-overseas.Com.

GAZPROMAVIA OPENS FLIGHTS FROM MOSCOW TO NUKUS

The GAZPROMAVIA aviation enterprise has opened regular flights between Moscow and the town of Nukus in Uzbekistan.

The company will perform return flights from Moscow's Vnukovo airport once a week, flying a Yak-42 jet on the route.

SOCIETY

UZBEKISTAN’S MAHALLA LEADERS ATTEND BUDGETING COURSE

About 50 representatives from Uzbekistan's self-governing communities, known as mahallas, began a three-day course yesterday to learn about budgeting, accounting and financial reporting.

The course, supported by the OSCE Centre in Tashkent, was initiated by the National Mahalla Foundation.

The training aims to give community leaders the financial and legal skills needed to manage their communities more efficiently and raise awareness about the leaders' rights and responsibilities.

"We are glad that our support to this project will help promote efficient management in self-governing communities and strengthen their capacity," said Ambassador Miroslav Jenca, Head of the OSCE Centre in Tashkent.

Nigmatulla Abdullaev, deputy chairman of the National Mahalla Foundation, added: "It is extremely important to provide mahalla leaders with accounting skills so that they can comply with national legislation and financial procedures."

The mahallas are traditional structures of Uzbek society. The country's 10,000 or so mahallas are deeply involved in community activities and could play a leading role in helping to resolve the communities' social, economic and environmental problems.

UZBEK INDEPENDENT MEDIA SUPPORT FOUNDATION SET UP

A national conference entitled "Media liberalization as a key factor for society's democratization" opened in Tashkent on 23 March. The conference was organized by a public foundation for support and development of independent print media and news agencies of Uzbekistan.

The aim of the conference is to discuss the role and significance of print media and news agencies in the life of society and to raise people's political and legal awareness and enlighten them. Representatives from local print media outlets and news agencies, several foreign media and international organizations, as well as MPs and Uzbekistan's leading journalists took part in the conference.

At the start of the conference, a brief presentation on the foundation's goals, activities and tasks was held. During the conference, the participants considered prospects for development of print media and information agencies and discussed issues facing print media.

The role of print media in protecting the country's national interests was highlighted during the discussion. The conference made it possible for guests and participants to get learn about international practices in this field and the work of foreign media.

The public foundation for support and development of independent print media issued several grants at the conference. Important documents - "Journalists' code of ethics" and "Charter of print media" were adopted.

FOREIGN DONORS TO GIVE UZBEKISTAN 240 MLN USD TO DEVELOP EDUCATION

International donors will allocate 240 mln USD for the development of education in Uzbekistan, a source within the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) representative office in Tashkent said today. The figure was named at a meeting of representatives from the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, USAID, the British Council, Europe House, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the French and Chinese embassies in the Uzbek capital.

It was decided to establish a centre for coordinating donors' activities at the meeting. The centre will make it possible to avoid duplication of donors' work and use allocated funds more rationally. The Japanese government has already allocated 400,000 dollars to equip the centre, the source said.

The whole project is run by the ADB.

UZBEK DISADVANTAGED KIDS GET 1.5 MLN USD GRANT FROM JAPAN

A 1.5 million USD grant will pilot a project to help improve elementary education for disabled children in Uzbekistan, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in its press release.

Special needs education is an area of the formal education system which needs to receive more attention. Also, special needs students are the most vulnerable groups in Uzbekistan, with many of them coming from poor families.

Most special needs children are taught at home or at specialized and boarding schools, often in poor buildings and facilities, with obsolete learning material and limited interaction with other students and society, as most of these schools are far from their homes.

This segregated system, in spite of being designed to concentrate on special needs in each specialized school, has been shown in studies to create a gap between these children and society at large, preventing them from being integrated into everyday social life, finding jobs and improving their welfare.

The grant from ADB's Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Japanese government, will pilot a project which will use inclusive and integrated approaches to improve the learning, social confidence, and social integration of children with special needs.

FOUNDATION AIDS HOSPITAL IN UZBEKISTAN

The Korea International Foundation for Health and Development announced yesterday that it will provide 400 million won ($410,000) to Uzbekistan to help the Children's Hospital of Urta Chirchick District in Tashkent.

The foundation, which was established under the Heath Ministry, exchanged a partnership agreement with the Soglom Avlod Uchun International Charity Foundation in a ceremony yesterday, attended by Kong Han-chul, secretary general of the foundation, and Komil Rashidov, an official from the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The foundation plans to provide 200 million won for medical supplies, 100 million won for the renovation of the hospital building and 100 million won for personnel training.

Uzbekistan has the largest proportion of children in Central Asia and the children's hospital needs urgent support, the foundation explained.

Mr. Kong said, 'There are around 200,000 ethnic Koreans in Uzbekistan and we hope relations between the two countries will be improved by this project.'

CULTURE

140 NATIONAL CENTERS PRESENT PROGRAMS AT NAVRUZ CELEBRATIONS

International cultural center organized a music festival devoted to Navruz holiday in Tashkent. Chairman of the Women’s committee of Uzbekistan S.Inamova participated in the event.

More than 140 national culture centers presented their musical programs to the viewers of the festival.

Today, representatives of more than 130 nations and nationalities live in Uzbekistan.

UZBEK STUDENTS DISCUSS RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF 19-20 CENTURIES

Students of National University of Uzbekistan named after Mirzo Ulugbek discussed Russian literature of 19-20 centuries at a conference.

The conference was organised by the Chair of Russian Literature of the university. The initiators were the Head of the Literature Chair Alexandra Davshan and lecturer Julia Mezentseva.

The theme of the conference was Russian literature of 19th-20th centuries, particularly relating to the famous writers and poets of the time, such as Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevskiy, Chehov, Tolstoy. This period also includes the poets of the Silver Age of Russian Poetry and Modern Authors.

The second to fourth year students prepared reports on the topics, such as "Antique tragedy in the perceptions of Bryullov, Pushkin and Gogol", "The character of Jenya Luvers in "the childhood of Luvers" by Boris Posternak, and "The works of Vladimir Vysotskiy in the conception of A. Novikov".

Especially remarkable was the work of the student studying for the master's degree Yelena Kuznetsova, who presented a work "On the issue of the influence of Kastaned's conception on the works of Plevin."

RUSSIAN GARDEN OPENS IN TASHKENT

Russian Garden was opened on the day of Navruz holiday, 21 March, in the center of Tashkent.

The garden opened the series of World Gardens, which will represent the flora of various states. An international organizing committee named Anor (pomegranate) was created to implement the large-scale project.