September 18, 2009
Politics:
Legislative Chamber considers new draft laws
Parliamentary election campaign to start on September 22
Economics:
Tashkent to host International Uzbek Cotton Fair in mid-October
Uzmetkombinat under Modernization
Termo Dom company opens in Ahangaran
ICT Summit 2009 - a meeting place for IT professionals
Society:
Protecting the Ozone Layer
11 medals won in Tokyo
POLICY
LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER CONSIDERS NEW DRAFT LAWS
The Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan held its regular session on September 17.
The Science, education, culture and sports committee member N.Alimov presented the draft law on archiving activities, National News Agency UzA reported.
The parliament of Uzbekistan passed the law on archives in 1999. The newly developed law takes into consideration the changes that took place in the sphere over the past years.
Today, there are 120 archive establishments in Uzbekistan, as well as almost 7,600 departmental archives, which store over 100 million archive documents.
The chamber passed the law in the first reading.
Legislation and court issues committee member O.Akhunova presented the draft law on introducing changes in article 113 of the Criminal code.
The document envisages including a special norm in the code, which establishes responsibility for infecting other persons with HVI as a result of neglect or violation of professional duties.
This includes violation of blood transfusion rules, use of non-sterile instruments and other similar actions.
While discussing the document, the deputies said the changes would ensure reliable legal guarantees of protection of the citizens’ health.
The draft law was passed in the first reading.
H.Mamatov of the Democratic institutes and NGOs committee presented the draft law on introducing changes in the Administrative responsibility code.
The document stipulates inclusion in the code of the article establishing responsibility of the individuals, including parents, for the use of the labor of the underage children at unfavorable works.
The draft law was developed in line with the National plan of actions to implement the ILO conventions on the immediate measures to eliminate the worst forms of child labor and on minimum age for employment.
The chamber approved the document in the first reading with consideration of the opinions expressed during the discussion.
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION CAMPAIGN TO START
ON SEPTEMBER 22
The Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan held a regular meeting on 17 September, which was headed by commission chairman Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov, UzA reported.
The constitutional term of office of the Oliy Majlis (parliament), as well as regional, district and city deputies’ councils expire in December this year.
In accordance with the second part of Article 117 of the Constitution, the elections to the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis and the representative bodies of state authority of the regions, districts and cities should be held on the first Sunday of the third decade of December, that is on 27 December 2009.
The Central Election Commission adopted a resolution declaring the start of the election campaign to the Legislative Chamber, the regional, district and city people’s deputies’ councils on 22 September.
The commission discussed the draft normative legal acts related to the holding of the elections to the Legislative Chamber.
It also approved the instructions on organization of the district election commissions, on collecting signatures by political parties and verification of correctness of the subscribers’ lists, as well as the regulations on the procedure of nominating candidates to the Legislative Chamber from the Environmental Movement of Uzbekistan and their election, the procedure of using the media by candidates and political parties during the election campaign, on observers from other states, international organizations and movements participating in the elections to the Legislative Chamber, on accreditation of local and foreign journalists covering the election campaign and other documents.
On the same day, the Central Election Commission held a briefing for foreign and local journalists in connection with the announcement of the election campaign to the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis, and regional, district and city deputies’ councils.
The commission chairman Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov stressed that all activities within the campaign will be held by the Central Election Commission and district commissions in strict accordance with the basic principles and requirements of the electoral law and the concept of holding the elections to the Oliy Majlis, regional, district and city deputies’ councils.
Only the CEC is the main organizer of the election campaign, and nobody will be allowed to interfere in this process. None of the participants of the campaign will have any benefits and preferences. The rules and requirements of the electoral legislation are the same for all, he said.
Nobody, especially state authorities at central and local levels, will be allowed to interfere in the electoral process. Any attempt to interfere in the election campaign, violate the requirements of the law or facts of protection will be stopped and action will be taken in accordance with the law, Abdusalomov added.
He also informed the journalists with the changes in the electoral legislation, aimed at further liberalization of the electoral system and development of inter-party competition.
Considering the actual processes taking place in the political life of the country and in order to improve the legislative work, sociopolitical activities of parties and civil society institutions in democratic renewal of the country, the number of seats in the Legislative Chamber was increased from 120 to 150.
Besides, the institute of nomination of candidates by the initiative groups of voters was abolished. Thus, the right to nominate candidates for deputies to the Legislative Chamber is currently reserved exclusively for the political parties.
Based on the great importance of the environmental issues and the need for improvement of the environment, human health, 15 seats were provided to deputies elected from the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan.
The legislation was now has the concept of an authorized representative of a political party, who is empowered to participate in the counting of votes at polling stations and during verification of correctness of the signature lists.
Besides, the possible number of trustees of the candidates was increased from 5 to 10.
Norms aimed at ensuring greater transparency in the activities of election commissions during the preparation and holding the elections were also introduced in the legislation.
Concluding his presentation, the chairman of the Central Election Commission said that in Uzbekistan all necessary legal bases for open and transparent conduction of free, fair and democratic elections were created.
ECONOMY
TASHKENT TO HOST INTERNATIONAL UZBEK COTTON FAIR IN MID-OCTOBER
The 1st International Uzbek Cotton Fair was organized in 2005 on the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov with a view to expand and diversify Uzbek cotton's export destinations, increase efficiency and optimize shipment of Uzbek cotton to the world markets.
The Cotton Fair stimulated further development of market mechanism in cotton trading, improvement of business relations between Uzbek producers and its customers. Taking into account the results of this event as well as high appreciations from international participants, it was decided to conduct International Uzbek Cotton Fair on the regular annual basis, Uzreport Information Portal reported.
The 2nd International Uzbek Cotton Fair was conducted with great success in 2006 and about 350 representatives of 250 international companies from 35 countries of the world participated in this event.
Following the established tradition, as well as considering wide experience of the past years, it is planned to hold the regular 5th International Uzbek Cotton Fair in Tashkent on 14-15 October 2009.
At the Cotton Fair participants will enjoy an opportunity to sign contracts on Uzbek cotton, set up long-term cooperation in cotton trading, as well as familiarize with the qualitative characteristics of Uzbek cotton and the latest innovations in trade and logistics.
Moreover, round tables and bilateral negotiations between Uzbek cotton exporters and consumers will be organized during the Cotton Fair. The guests of the Cotton Fair will have an opportunity to participate in the cotton trading session on Uzbek commodity exchange.
In the framework of the fair it is planed to discuss the current problems and prospects of development of the world cotton market as well as learn competent views of the leading international experts on different topics of the world cotton and textile industries.
The following issues are expected to be discussed at the Cotton Fair: "World cotton market: demand and supply, prices and factors", "Current state and prospects of production and marketing of cotton in Uzbekistan", "New technologies to increase cotton competitiveness", "World market of cotton textile: present and future", "Investment climate and foreign investors in cotton and textile industry of Uzbekistan", etc.
Organizers of the event believe that the regular Cotton Fair and Conference will be conducted at high level and will become the basis for the mutually beneficial cooperation between the participants of the world cotton and textile industry.
UZMETKOMBINAT UNDER MODERNIZATION
The only ironworks in the Central Asian region, Uzmetkombinat, continues increasing its production capacities. The joint stock industrial association will hold relevant works worth more than $67 million through 2014, Uzbekistan Today Newspaper reported.
Under a presidential resolution on the program of measures on major projects of modernization, technological re-equipment of production for 2009-2014, the enterprise will carry out seven different projects. This year the company will complete upgrading the second section rolling workshop. This includes reengineering of methodical oven at the second section rolling workshop, which will save gas consumption and reduce production costs. In addition, waste-boiler in the shop is being reconstructed, which will improve its efficiency and economy of fuel and energy resources. Experts of the company estimate that upgrading of electrical system and automated control of the mill “300” in the same shop will improve the reliability of the systems, increase productivity of the rolling mill. According to Nariman Umerov, deputy director of the engineering center at Uzmetkombinat, one of the priorities in the further development strategy is increasing the production volume, improving quality of output through modernization.
“For meeting the growing demand in the industry and increasing exports of the republic, our company intends to bring the total steel production to 695,000 tons in 2011.”
Under conditions of growing energy prices, the company carries through a major work on reducing the cost of energy, consumption of electricity and natural gas for every one million soums of marketable output. In 2008-2011, consumption of energy resources at the enterprise will be reduced from 0.61 to 0.54 tons of reference fuel, consumption of electricity from 1.79 to 1.71 thousand MW/hour, natural gas from 0.34 to 0.28 thousand cu. m.
TERMO DOM COMPANY OPENS IN AHANGARAN
A new company producing construction materials was launched in Ahangaran, Tashkent region, in cooperation with Steinert Industries (Germany).
Termo Dom, which attracted USD 6 million of investments, specializes on production of burnt bricks and uses modern power-saving technologies.
According to company hear Ivan Nogai, the enterprise produces 10,000 to 12,000 bricks per day. The number of employees is about 100.
ICT SUMMIT 2009 - A MEETING PLACE FOR IT PROFESSIONALS
National Summit on Information and Communication Technologies – ICT Summit 2009 will be held at the International Business Centre in Tashkent on 22 September.
Annual ICT Summit draws the attention of IT professionals and today is one of the most important events in ICT sphere in Uzbekistan, which causes interest of the international experts of other near and far countries. Each year more than 400 delegates from many countries participate in the work of the Summit, and this year is not an exception.
This year the Seventh National Summit on ICT will be attended by over 400 delegates from such countries as Germany, India, Korea, Russia, USA, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. These are the leading experts in ICT market, representatives of state bodies, public and international organizations, heads and specialists of domestic and foreign IT companies.
Format of ICT Summit has changed in some way, this year's ICT summit, in contrast to previous years, will be conducted within one day, with work in plenary session and thematic sections. Upon completion of the event recommendations and resolutions of the Summit will be adopted.
Organizers of the event are Coordination Council for development of computerization and information and communication technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Committee on Information and Communication Technologies of the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Communication and Information Agency of Uzbekistan, UNDP represented by "Assisting the Government of Uzbekistan in the formulation and implementation of ICT for development policy" Project (ICTP), Association of IT Companies and Organizations of Uzbekistan.
Topics for general discussion include trends and major developments in regulatory policy, progress and challenges in implementation of national ICT development programmes, best practices of ICT deployment in various sectors, issues of infrastructure development and other most critical areas.
SOCIETY
PROTECTING THE OZONE LAYER
The Republic of Uzbekistan goes ahead with commitments on discontinuance of using ozone destroying substances.
This was informed at an international seminar in Tashkent held by the State Committee for Nature Protection and Global Environment Facility (GEF).
Representatives of state organizations, law enforcement bodies, scientific research institutes and enterprises of Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan as well as World Bank and UNDP took part in the seminar.
The protection issues of the Earth ozone layer that saves every living thing on the globe from harmful ultraviolet radiation were prioritized in the country’s environment policy. In 1993 Uzbekistan joined the most important international documents in this sphere: the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer and later on adopted the National Program on Discontinuance of Using Ozone Destroying Substances. As it was proved by scientists, these substances provoke global warming as well.
The government adopted three resolutions on fulfillment of international commitments in ozone layer protection and regulation of importing and exporting of ozone destroying substances and goods containing these substances. For the control over observance of this resolution the customs services are equipped with facilities detecting prohibited substances. There is a project on training specialists for operating the equipment working on refrigerant alternative to traditional ones. The introduced system of extracting and recycling ozone destroying substances brings good results. The technology for carrying out this process was delivered to over a hundred enterprises on assembly, repair and maintenance of refrigeration equipment and air conditioning devices.
The existing technological lines in Samarqand Sino plant were reconstructed and replaced by the new ones with the use of ozone-friendly substances. The enterprise established production of export-oriented output: 17 models of household refrigerators and four models of split air conditioners with the use of ozone-friendly technologies. Now Samarqand refrigerators became competitive with the production of world-known companies.
Strict control over the use of substances dangerous for ozone layer in technological processes was introduced. Use of substitutes is the initial compulsory item in building, reconstruction and technical re-equipment projects. The country is rendered technical and financial support by GEF within the National Program for Discontinuance of Using Ozone Destroying Substances.
The seminar in Tashkent is a part of the GEF strategy directed at preparation of financing the projects for the next three years. The results of the seminar will be considered at the forthcoming meeting of GEF managers that will focus on the further investment in technologies, increase in building capacities and technical assistance to governments in implementation of programs on the ozone layer protection.
11 MEDALS WON IN TOKYO
Uzbek team won 11 medals at the Asian Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
The athletes of Uzbekistan received five gold, three silver and three bronze medals.
Bekzod Khodjayev and Farruh Mirzakulov won two gold medals each in running and long jump.
Muzaffar Rajabov, 100 meter runner, brought another gold to the team.
Other runners Oybek Bozorov and Sugun Bekmirzayeva won silver and bronze.
Other winners were Murod Abbaskhonov (silver medal) and Ghairat Kayumov (bronze).