May 28, 2014
The President of Latvia arrives in Uzbekistan. 2
Uzbekistan’s electrical engineering industry. 2
Secondary schools across Uzbekistan closed the school year4
Press-service of MFA of the Republic of Uzbekistan
POLICY
The President of Latvia arrives in Uzbekistan
On the invitation of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, President of the Republic of Latvia Andris Berzins arrived May 27 in our country with an official visit.
The Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev met the high-ranking guest at the Tashkent International Airport decorated with state flags of our two nations.
Following a brief ceremony of meeting, the Latvian delegation then departed to the Kuksaroy country residence booked for them.
The current Uzbek-Latvian meeting at the highest level is considered a logical extension of the fruitful interstate dialogue held last October during the visit by Uzbekistan’s President to Riga.
In Tashkent, the two sides are expected to discuss the prospects of consolidation of the interaction in the political, trade-economic, investment, cultural-humanitarian and other spheres.
Latvia is Uzbekistan’s third largest trade partner among the countries of the European Union. The bilateral trade turnover exceeded 248 million US dollars in 2013.
The major events of the official visit by the President of Latvia to Uzbekistan are scheduled for 28 May.
As it was reported earlier, the talks are anticipated to produce a joint declaration of the heads of state and a package of documents dedicated to boosting the Uzbek-Latvian mutually advantageous cooperation across diverse areas.
(Source: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan)
INVESTMENTS
Uzbekistan’s electrical engineering industry
Uzbekistan’s electrical engineering industry is one of the country’s fastest growing sectors of economy. Within a short period, it has developed into a complex of manufacturers of a wide range of products, such as refrigerators, televisions, gas stoves, power convertors, cables and other electrical component parts. In addition to them, the industry contains producers of high-tech gadgets – tablet computers and cell phones.
The history of making up Uzbekistan’s electrical industry was full of difficulties, but today it is Central Asia’s leader offering the region’s widest range of electrical products and home appliances – hi-tech gadgets, telecommunication equipment, elevators, power-saving lamps, various cables, etc. Uzbekistan could not even dream of such an industry 22 years ago. The country had to import most of the electrical goods it needed and pay a lot for them; and their quality did not often meet the necessary standards. The situation had to be changed through setting up modern factories capable of supplying high-quality electrical products to the local markets, which was quite a difficult task.
In 1994, the Uzbek state corporation of electronic, electrical and instrument engineering industry Radioelectrontekhpribor was reorganized to become the association Uzeltekhsanoat. The association was to bring in market economy mechanisms in the industry, upgrade and renew the equipment, and organize manufacture of new competitive products. Uzeltekhsanoat actively engaged in arranging purchase and installation of new machinery, training new personnel and improving the skills of the existing workers in the industry, finding strategic business associates, etc. All these efforts proved to be fruitful – gradually, new electrical engineering manufacturers appeared in the country; and some of them began to export their products. However, the end of the 1990s saw a lot of technological breakthroughs in the area of electronics and electrical engineering worldwide, and it was not always easy to catch up with them.
The country’s electrical engineering industry had to quicken its pace under those conditions, taking innovative steps of increasing its competitiveness. In April 2004, the government approved a series of new measures to support the association uniting 34 businesses already. These measures to ensure further sustainable development of the industry were based on adoption of the best international practices.
Under the document providing for this new policy, the association carried out a number of projects aimed at assisting the local manufacturers of the industry in launching new products – competitive in the local and foreign markets. Equally important were the steps taken to give training, retraining and refresher training to the industry’s workers, engineers and managers. Thanks to these efforts, the local stores began to sell Uzbek-made electrical products as well. Today, a large part of them offered in the domestic markets are made in Uzbekistan. The local production in 2005, for instance, amounted to 80.9 billion soums; in 2010, its worth exceeded 470 billion soums; in 2012, it was 900 billion soums’ worth, and it was 1 trillion soum’s worth last year. In 2013, the country’s output of flat-panel televisions had increased 3.6-fold, and the production of power-saving lamps, washing machines, and radio-frequency cables and wires had grown by 82.8 %, 31.9%, and 38.4% respectively, as against 2012 (Currency rates of CB from 27.05.2014 1$=2296.43 soums).
Yet the most striking example of the industry’s success is its achievement in production of gadgets – the most technology-savvy area. Last year saw the first cell phones manufactured in Uzbekistan. Branded UzTE, they are produced by Pengzhong Xingsheng JV based in Sirdaryo region. The company manufactures three UzTE phone models, each for a different price segment: Grand V, Grand M, and Grand X. Now the company is working on expanding its production and designing new models. In the same year, the Uzbek-Indian joint venture Olive Telecom based in the free industrial economic zone Navoi launched the production of the seven-inch web-pad OlivePadV-T300 supporting GSM and CDMA standards – the first Uzbek-made tablet computer. In the near future, this company is going to also start manufacturing two cell phone models: the low-end candy bar Z80 and the smartphone K100. Chinese company Asiatelco is going to supply component parts for them.
Infinity Electronics JV, one of the group of companies Artel and a member of Uzeltekhsanoat, is another manufacturer of mobile phones in Uzbekistan. It was the first to offer ones with software supporting the Uzbek language. The first phones made by the joint venture came in six models: classical mobile phones U30, H35, and D83, and the touch screen smartphones Adi5, Adi5 CDMA and Komi3. At the second production phase, they launched the low-end mobile phones Sport, Race, and Sprint, and the two high-performance smartphones Adi5 S and Perfect1. With the full production capacity reached, the company will manufacture up to 800,000 phones a year.
Another interesting project carried out in the industry is organization of manufacturing personal computers in cooperation with the Singapore company Prescient Systems & Technologies Pte Ltd. The parties have already been through the feasibility study and are going to set up the production in Sirdaryo region soon.
The beginning of the current year also saw important developments in Uzbekistan’s electrical engineering industry. The president of the country approved the program of further development of the industry for the years 2014 – 2018. It provides for a number of quite interesting measures. The association Uzeltekhsanoat has been reorganized to be an open joint-stock company whose strategic tasks include pursuing a uniform policy of introducing the latest and highly efficient technologies to be used by the industry’s businesses and further expansion of the home-based production. The President has also exempted Uzeltekhsanoat JSC from the taxes on the land and property till January 1, 2018, with the funds received from this exemption to be allocated to reinforcement of the industry’s material assets and training and refresher training of its personnel. Under the program, 25 various projects amounting to $153 million are to be implemented.
One of these projects is Electric Home Appliances Marketing and Production Center to be established in cooperation with Chinese investors. The center is to be set up in the idle-standing production area of Motor Plant based in Tashkent. From 2014 to 2017, $25 million are to be invested in the project; the sum is going to include foreign investments made by the Chinese companies Midea and Changhong. Experts estimate the center will provide at least 1,600 new jobs and allow for phased growth in the localization of production and expansion of exports. In the years 2015-2016, they are planning to launch production of refrigerators in cooperation with Midea, with annual output of 300,000 units. Changhong is going to manufacture televisions – up to 500, 000 units a year. The project also provides for production of aluminum and plastic component parts for home appliances, as well as setting up a logistical center to serve the production, a service and maintenance center, and a permanent showroom.
(Source: “Uzbekistan Today” newspaper)
education
Secondary schools across Uzbekistan closed the school year
May 24, secondary schools across the country closed the school year. On this day, 501,564 school leavers will hear the last bell in a festive atmosphere, marking the cross to a new phase of training.
Three years ago, the national education system moved to a compulsory twelve-year education. This means that upon completion of the nine-year schools, every graduate must continue his or her education in vocational college or academic lyceum. This unique system of education allows young citizens of the country to start an independent life with two or three professions in hand. Moreover, today the work of professional colleges, which train about 90% of young people, is built so that graduates are assisted in employment, and many even get the job before graduation.
This year’s survey among ninth-graders showed that 9.4% of graduates are wishing to continue their education in academic lyceums, and 90.6% in vocational colleges. Their plans are sure to come true, as guaranteed by the Ministry of National Education, and the Center of Secondary Special and Professional Education.
Besides, education ministry is creating a special electronic database E-Maktab to provide monitoring of the right to the 12-year compulsory education. It already contains data on 4.4 million schoolchildren of 1-9 grades, with information about the school a child is attending what kind of education expects to receive in the future and even the institution he or she entered after school.
Every year educational institutions in the country improve conditions for quality education. In 2013-2014 alone, as part of the Investment Program, 394 secondary schools had been repaired 1,920 schools received new training equipment, 1,485 got new computers, 2,314 received school furniture and other items necessary in the educational process. This year, over three thousand schools will get new equipments. Particular attention is paid to foreign language classrooms. Under the program, approved in 2013, the schools received 2,457 sets of technical equipment for primary schools and 1,485 sets of computer equipment for senior classes.
Education ministries are working on improving textbooks and manuals. By the beginning of 2013-2014 academic year, publishers issued and supplied 22.5 million copies of textbooks and teaching aids of 392 titles.
Ministry of National Education pays special attention to improving the quality of the educational process. Thus the ministry is implementing a prospective plan for the development of public education for 2014-2016 academic years. Thirty eight secondary schools and 28 secondary specialized educational establishments are testing new project state educational standards and curricula on 18 subjects. These standards are aimed to help students acquire practical skills of application of theoretical knowledge.
Each school is has professors and university teachers who are in charge for distribution of best teaching practices and new technologies. This was named a School of Excellence which is carried out in all subjects. 194 secondary schools are running special courses for teachers on information and communication teaching technologies. More than 400,000 teachers have already passed these special training courses.
And, most importantly, a lot of attention is paid to the comprehensive development of students. This job is done by institutions of extracurricular education. This year, 38 music and art schools will receive new and reconstructed buildings, equipped with modern equipment and tools. 115 sports facilities are scheduled to be commissioned by 2014-2015 school year. Children’s art centers “Barkamol Avlod” will also get financial and technical assistance.
(Source: “Uzbekistan Today” newspaper)