THE session of the Council of Ministers of foreign affairs of the member-states of the SCO 2
SCO Council of foreign ministers takes place in Tashkent 2
POLItiCs
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received Minister of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov at the Oqsaroy on 24 May
The state and prospects of the multifaceted Uzbek-Russian interaction, topical issues of international politics were discussed at the meeting.
The head of our state, greeting the Russian foreign minister, highly appraised the outcomes of the Uzbek-Russian negotiations on the highest level in Moscow in the the end of April, which, unreservedly, will facilitate comprehensive development of bilateral relations in all areas.
As underscored, today implementation of the principal agreements, first of all, in trade and economic spheres has a special significance, allowing not only to maintain but also to increase the volumes of mutual trade in these challenging world economic conditions.
The parties confirmed their interest in joint implementation of new investment projects on manufacturing competitive and demanded products within the framework of the Agreement on the main areas of development and deepening economic cooperation for 2015-2019.
The Russian foreign minister expressed his deep appreciation to the President of our country for a warm welcome and the opportunity to exchange views on bilateral relations, key issues on regional and international agenda. Sergey Lavrov shared his assessment of the meeting of the Council of ministers of foreign affairs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, noting that constructive Uzbek presidency in the SCO allows to be confident also in the successful convention of the Heads of State Summit in Tashkent.
During the event the parties also exchanged opinions in other prospective areas of deepening Uzbek-Russian cooperation.
BUSINESS CLIMATE
Conveniences for Taxpayers
The State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan has held a video workshop on innovations for taxpayers. They were introduced to the opportunities of a new portal of electronic tax services – my.soliq.uz.
The new portal was designed to transform the interaction between public, businesses and tax authorities into electronic form. This should enhance the transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the tax system. In the portal, the electronic public services are divided into interactive and informative, there are services of ‘Sending applications’, ‘Tax Payment’, ‘Obtaining verifications’, ‘Application for registration’.
The portal offers a total of 31 electronic services, including 18 interactive and 13 information services. In addition, there is an opportunity of using 27 kinds of public information.
The ‘My Account’ service has become more comfortable for individuals and legal entities to address all issues related to the fulfillment of tax obligations by electronic form. There is now a separate version of the account for individual entrepreneurs.
The portal helps to independently calculate taxes, send statements and tax returns, as well as obtain 14 kinds of official interpretation and verifications. The users can study the lists of collection orders on accounts of enterprises, pay taxes online, obtain information on warning notifications to enterprises, and accrued insurance contributions of citizens.
The online payment system for all taxes and other mandatory payments will be available around the clock and free of charge. More than 110,000 businesses have already used this opportunity, having paid 882 billion soums (currency rates of CB RU from 25.05.2016, 1$= 2919.35 soums) of taxes and other tax payments distantly.
(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)
THE session of the Council of Ministers of foreign affairs of the member-states of the SCO
SCO Council of foreign ministers takes place in Tashkent
On 23-24 May a regular session of the Council of Ministers of foreign affairs of the member-states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization under the presidency of Uzbekistan took place in Tashkent.
The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yerlan Idrisov, Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China Wang Yi, Foreign Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Erlan Abdyldayev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan Sirojiddin Aslov, and Foreign Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov. SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov and Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure Yevgeny Sysoyev also took part in the meeting.
As part of the preparations for the meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State due to be held in Tashkent on June 23-24, 2016, the ministers discussed the current state and prospects for promoting cooperation in different areas of the organisation’s activities and for enhancing its role and stance in international and regional affairs. It was stressed that the SCO, based on the “spirit of Shanghai,” embodying mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, mutual consultations, respect for the diversity of cultures and joint development aspirations, has asserted itself as an influential member of the modern system of international relations over 15 years since its inception.
The participants exchanged views on the implementation of the resolutions adopted at the meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State, which was held in Ufa on 9-10 July, 2015. In this regard the importance of approving a Plan of Action to implement the SCO Development Strategy towards 2025, to be submitted to the SCO Council of Heads of State for approval, was pointed out.
The ministers decided to submit for consideration to the Council of Heads of State the signing of memoranda on the commitments of the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for their obtaining the status of SCO member-states.
The ministers welcomed the signing of memoranda to grant SCO dialogue partner status to the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Kingdom of Cambodia and Nepal.
The ministers noted the need for a broader involvement of the SCO observer states and the SCO dialogue partners in practical cooperation within the organisation.
The ministers confirmed that in accordance with the Charter and other SCO documents, developing and implementing measures for the joint fight against all forms of terrorism, separatism and extremism, illegal drug production and trafficking, trans-border organised crime, crimes with the use of modern information technology, illegal migration and human trafficking, illegal trafficking in arms, ammunition and explosives, and proliferation of mass destruction weapons and their delivery vehicles would remain a priority in cooperation within the organisation.
The significance of continuing efforts on preparation of the SCO Convention on combating extremism, in accordance with the resolution of the Council of Heads of State on 10 July 2015, was highlighted. The Convention will assist to strengthen the legal base in this sphere along with the Shanghai Convention on fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism and the Programme of cooperation of the SCO member states on fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism for 2016-2018.
The ministers exchanged views on actual regional and international problems, main trends of their development, issues of strengthening security and stability in the region.
The ministers affirmed adherence of the SCO member-states to consistently strengthen central coordinating role of the UN in international relations, which should be based on international law, including goals and principles of the UN Charter. First of all, this relates to joint efforts on supporting stability and security in the world, developing cooperation among nations, independence, equality, as well as ensuring the right of self-determination of a social structure and development pathway, mutual respect of sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, peaceful settlement of international disputes, non-use of force or threat of force.
The ministers noted that early restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan is an important factor in maintaining and strengthening security in the region. They support settlement of inter-Afghan conflict via promoting inclusive process of national reconciliation and believe that these efforts should be undertaken under the leadership of the Afghans and Afghans themselves. The UN should play a central coordinating role in international cooperation on Afghanistan.
The significance of cooperation in disarmament and arms control, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and peaceful use of nuclear energy was underlined. From this point of view, entry into force of the protocol on security guarantees to the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (CANWFZ) treaty, which will contribute to strengthening of global non-proliferation regime.
The ministers endorsed a draft Tashkent declaration on the fifteenth anniversary of the SCO and draft information communique following the meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State, as well as a Report of the SCO Secretariat for the past year, presented by the SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov.
The heads of delegations also adopted decisions on a number of issues, related to the activities of the organization and forthcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO member-states in Tashkent.
The ministers highly appraised the works, carried out under Uzbekistan’s SCO presidency, on preparing the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO member-states in Tashkent.
(Source: UzA)
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