June 12, 2015
official visit of the Secretary General of the UN to Uzbekistan.. 2
UN Secretary General Arrived in Uzbekistan. 2
The Proper Way to “Freeze” Produce. 2
Uzbek-French business forum.. 3
Legilative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of republic of Uzbekistan.. 3
10th Sharq Taronalari International Music Festival.. 6
Preparations Active for the International Music Festival 6
official visit of the Secretary General of the UN to Uzbekistan
UN Secretary General Arrived in Uzbekistan
Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon arrived 11 June in Tashkent with an official visit.
Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoev met the high ranking guest at the Tashkent International Airport.
Following a brief conversation, the UN delegation departed for the residence designated for them in the Kuksaroy countryside complex.
Major events of the official visit by the UN chief officer to Uzbekistan are scheduled for June 12.
As it was reported earlier, during the forthcoming meetings and negotiations in Tashkent, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are expected to address the current state and prospects of cooperation between our country and the international organization, along with pressing issues in regional and international affairs.
The visit program includes also travel to Bukhara and familiarization with her history and architectural monuments.
(Source: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan)
economy
The Proper Way to “Freeze” Produce
Agricultural production is just the first stage of work on ensuring food security in Uzbekistan. Creation of warehouses and cold storage facilities with cutting-edge equipment for long-term storage of fruits and vegetables is the second phase, which is equally important.
Annually growing and supplying domestic and foreign markets with hundreds of tons of fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy products, Uzbekistan has always sought to improve their commodity properties. However, the efforts were hampered by the lack of up-to-date warehouses and cold storage facilities. Development of conservation was the way out at the initial stage, when a significant share of agricultural products reached consumers in processed form. Concurrently, Uzbekistan has been developing a network of storage facilities meeting the world’s leading standards.
“The network of O’zulgurjisavdoin-vest Association comprises about 60 wholesale trade bases and enterprises. Products are stored in non-cooling warehouses totaling 116,000 square meters, and in refrigerator warehouses with a capacity of 60,000 tons. The capacity of 51,000 tons is intended for storing potatoes, carrots, onions, melons and meat products,” said Ravshan Hamidbekov, Deputy Chairman of O’zulgurjisavdoinvest Association.
Up-to-date cold storages with a capacity of 51,540 tons have been put into operation in the past four years as part of the further expansion of fruit and vegetable storage capacity. All regions are currently building warehouses and advancing storage technologies, thereby expanding the range and increasing the volume of production. There are plans afoot this year to launch more refrigerated containers with a volume of 16,500 tons.
Gold Dried Fruits company has recently opened a cutting-edge logistics, storage, sorting and packing center for fruits and vegetables in Bektemir district of Tashkent city. Built and equipped by the Dutch company Celtic Koeling BV, it appears the most advanced facility in Central Asia. The logistics center has a cooling plant of sizing, sorting, packing and loading fruit and vegetables, equipped with sorting lines for cherries and drupaceous fruits by the Italian company of Unitec SpA., and automatic line for gluing boxes Teco S.r.l. (Italy). The facility will allow Uzbek manufacturers to shift exports of fruits and vegetables to the off-season. At the same time, they will be able to meet the domestic demand during the cold season.
Seeking to ensure stable prices in the market during the winter-spring season in 2015-2016, the O’zulgurjisavdoinvest warehouses are planning to create a reserve for more than 70,000 tons of this year’s agricultural products, including 17,000 tons of potatoes and onions, almost 20,000 tons of vegetables and fruits, and 500 tons of meat. These products will be sold on the domestic market from December to May. With this in mind, farmers and small economies sign contracts for the purchase of products at more than 60 billion soums this spring.
In order to increase food resources, O’zulgurjisavdoinvest has been working to open livestock, fishing and poultry farms and intensive gardens. This year, about 60,000 seedlings of various trees have been planted on 125 hectares, and agricultural crops on 1,390 hectares (currency rates of CB RU from 12.06.2015 1$= 2541.65 soums).
The Association has been opening small and medium-sized chain stores, as well as creating a network of big supermarkets for selling foods. In 2014, O’zulgurjisavdoinvest built and commissioned a total of 4,000 square meters of supermarkets in Termez, as well as in district centers of Denau in Surkhandarya region and Zaamin in Jizzakh region. In the current year plans include construction and commissioning of two supermarkets with a total area of over 1,500 square meters in Termez district and in Urgench, and a two-storey store in Nukus.
(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)
International cooperation
Uzbek-French business forum
Within a visit of the delegation of business circles of France to Uzbekistan, the capital hosted the Uzbek-French business forum. The event was attended by heads of ministries and departments, companies and concerns of the two countries, which are responsible for cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, industry, environment, transport, communications and energy.
Uzbekistan and France pay great attention to importance of the consistent strengthening and expanding mutually beneficial, equal and partner relations between countries. It is worth noting that the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries by the results of 2014 amounted to $287.5 million. In January-March 2015 the trade turnover increased by 7.1%. In addition, today in Uzbekistan operate 14 firms and companies with French capital, including 3 with 100% French capital. According to the figures, holding the Uzbek-French business forum was the logical continuation of mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation. The agenda of the forum became a wide range of topics, aimed at expanding trade and investment relations between Uzbekistan and France. During the forum, the foreign partners got acquainted with the investment climate in such areas as: mechanical engineering, automotive, environmental, chemical and petrochemical, electrical, pharmaceutical and food industries and others.
It is worth noting that by the results of the Uzbek-French business forum Oybek Khamraev, deputy director of the Agency for Information Support & Foreign Investments Promotion of “Uzinfoinvest” and Philip Gauthier, deputy Director General of the Association of French entrepreneurs “MEDEF Interneeshnl” signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
(Source: UzReport.uz )
Legilative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of republic of Uzbekistan
The legislative chamber approves the report on execution of the State budget for 2014 and the first quarter of 2015
A regular meeting of the Legislative chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan took place on June 11.
It was attended by the heads of relevant ministries and departments, experts and media representatives.
In the first half of the day, in accordance with the powers given to the Parliament by the Constitution, the deputies considered the report of the Cabinet of Ministers on execution of the State budget and budgets of state targeted funds of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2014. A report on this issue was made by first Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan Rustam Azimov.
At the meeting of the Legislative chamber it was noted that the execution of the State budget and budgets of state targeted funds of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2014 was carried out under conditions of sustained and sustainable socio-economic development of the country, characterized by high growth rates of the main macroeconomic indicators. Last year’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 8.1 percent, the volume of industrial production increased by 8.3%, agricultural production by 6.9 percent, capital construction by 10.9 percent, the volume of retail turnover by 14.3 percent. Inflation was lower than expected and amounted to 6.1 percent.
The main conditions for maintaining a high rates of development became positive structural changes achieved in 2014, as well as quality changes, positive trends in the economy, conduction of effective monetary and fiscal policy, which contributed to the growth of employment and incomes, allowed to execute the State budget with a surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP, instead of projected in the beginning of the year deficit of 1 percent to GDP.
Much attention in the past year the government paid to the issues related to further development of the social sphere, sustained improvements in the quality and standard of living of the population. So in 2014, people’s real incomes grew by 10.2 percent, the average monthly wages of employees of budget organizations, pensions, social allowances and scholarships by 23.2 per cent.
In the course of extensive discussion of the report on execution of the State budget and budgets of state targeted funds of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2014, the representatives of all factions of political parties and the Deputy group of the Ecological movement of Uzbekistan made their speeches.
Deputies from the movement of entrepreneurs and businessmen – liberal democratic party of Uzbekistan emphasized that the most important factor in ensuring sustainable growth of the economy was the reform of the banking system, resulting in the growth of aggregate capital of commercial banks amounted to almost 25 percent. The strengthening of the banking system created the necessary prerequisites to reduce in 2014 the Central Bank refinancing rate from 12 percent to 10 percent and a corresponding reduction in interest rates on credits of commercial banks. Compared with 2013, the volume of credits granted by banks to finance the programs of modernization and technological renewal of production increased by 1.2 times, and for working capital by more than 1.3 times.
An important decision in the system of measures to stimulate small business development in labor-intensive industries, such as light, food and construction materials production was increase in the maximum number of employees from 100 to 200 people. In a rating that characterizes the business environment, by the results of 2014 Uzbekistan climbed eight positions up.
Members of the faction of the democratic party “Milly Tiklanish” on the basis of their election platform, paid a special attention to the high impact of measures taken on the full support of the enterprises-exporters and export diversification, the development of new markets for local products. In particular, in the past year the export activity involved more than 500 new businesses, especially small businesses. The trade balance has been executed with a surplus of $180 million, foreign exchange reserves increased by $1.6 billion, which contributed to further strengthening of the national economy.
Representatives of the faction paid special attention to issues of ensuring the observance by economic entities of the tax laws and effective use of granted privileges and preferences, strengthening the revenue of local budgets on the basis of further improvement of inter-budgetary relations, as well as efficient use of available capacities and reserves of the local bodies of state power and administration. The speakers paid special attention to the organization of the economic environment on the basis of market requirements, the rational use of production and resource potential of territories, the development of high-tech small enterprises in the sphere of processing of agricultural products.
Speakers from the faction of people’s democratic party of Uzbekistan noted that the focus of the government last year was on the issues of further development of the social sphere, continuous improvement of incomes and living standards of the population. In the reporting period, 18493,8 billion soums, which is 58.8% of the total costs has been allocated from the State budget to finance expenditures of the social sphere and social support of the population (currency rates of CB RU from 12.06.2015 1$= 2541.65 soums).
At that, the representatives of the people’s democratic party noted that in 2014 a number of budget organizations and budget holders identified financial irregularities, incidents of non-compliance with the budgetary legislation, inappropriate and inefficient use of budgetary funds. In this regard, the deputies made a number of proposals to improve responsibility of bodies of state and economic management in the centre and in the field for ensuring the efficient and targeted use of budget funds, observance of financial discipline, as well as further strengthening the control over the implementation of the rules and regulations of the Budget code.
According to members of the faction of the Social democratic party of Uzbekistan “Adolat”, a systematic execution of the economic program in 2014 allowed to maintain high sustainable growth, macroeconomic balance, modernization and diversification of the economy. It was emphasized that the Cabinet of Ministers during the reporting period paid great attention to the development of science that coincides with the program objectives of the party. In particular, 187 billion soums, or 13.6% compared with 2013 has been allocated to the development of science.
At the same time, faction members made suggestions for the optimization of the financing of priority directions of the state scientific-technical programs, basic and applied research by industry, as well as programs of innovative development.
The members of the Deputy group of the Ecological movement of Uzbekistan emphasized that the protection of the environment and public health is among the priority directions of state policy. Therefore, from the first days of independence a course on rational use of natural resources, preserving the environment for present and future generations has been adopted in Uzbekistan.
Members of the parliamentary group positively assessed the measures aimed at solving problems of the environment and population health. Thus, the State budget expenditure on environmental protection in 2014 amounted to 547.2 billion soums, including to the protection of water and land resources 18.6 billion soums were allocated, and for the protection of animals and plants – 7.1 billion soums, the protection of biodiversity – 7.3 billion soums.
Taking into account the views expressed during the discussions and proposals of the Legislative chamber of the Oliy Majlis, the report on execution of the State budget and budgets of state targeted funds of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2014 was approved and a corresponding resolution was adopted.
In the second half of a day, the deputies considered the report on execution of the State budget and budgets of state targeted funds of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the first quarter of 2015. A report on this issue was made by the Deputy Minister of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan M. Mirzaev.
It was noted that the implementation of the State budget and budgets of state targeted funds for the first quarter 2015 was conducted in accordance with the parameters approved by the Oliy Majlis and the relevant decision of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the basis of the Budget code of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The State budget revenues amounted to 7 638,7 billion soums, the cost – 7 615,6 billion soums. State budget was executed with a surplus of 23.1 billion soums.
It was noted that the continued implementation of the adopted strategy, ensuring consistently high rates of economic growth, and mobilization of the available reserves and the capacity of the economy facilitated the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country in I quarter of this year at 7.5 percent. Thus, further strengthening of macroeconomic stability was accompanied by low inflation, which did not exceed the forecast parameters, as well as the surplus of the State budget in the amount of 0.1 percent of GDP.
For the first quarter of 2015 the growth of industrial production amounted to 7.9%, consumer goods 11.2 percent, production of agriculture – 6.3%, services – 13.1%, retail turnover – 15.2%.
Moreover, 434 new production facilities have been commissioned in the framework of implementation of regional programs of socio-economic development of the regions. At that, 169 km of water networks, 54 km of gas networks, 1.3 million square meters of housing have been put into exploitation in rural areas.
Systematic measures taken just in the first quarter, contributed to the creation of more than 8 thousand new small business, or 10.2 percent more than in the same period of 2014. The small businesses have been allocated bank loans worth 2.8 trillion. soums, or 1.3 times more compared to the first quarter of 2014.
As a result of the implementation of the set of targeted measures, more than 141 thousand new jobs, including more than 88 million, or 62.6% in rural areas have been created during the first quarter of this year.
All speakers in the course of the meeting highlighted the need for clear execution of the parameters of the main financial document of the country for the current year by all state and economic bodies.
By the results of the meeting, the legislative chamber of the Oliy Majlis approved the report on execution of the State budget and budgets of state targeted funds for the first quarter of 2015 and adopted a corresponding resolution.
(Source: UzReport.uz)
10th Sharq Taronalari International Music Festival
Preparations Active for the International Music Festival
The National Press Center of Uzbekistan has hosted a press conference to discuss the forthcoming 10th Sharq Taronalari (Melodies of the East) International Music Festival.
Speaking at the meeting, the executive director of the 10th Sharq Taronalari International Music Festival T.Mahmudov and others noted that this international forum organized under the initiative of President Islam Karimov serves for the development of cultural bonds among peoples, for the consolidation of friendship, peace and harmony. Important factors in this are the universal values, high moral spirituality and national traditions embodied into the fundamentals of the Sharq Taronalari Festival.
The festival has found its worthwhile place in the range of prominent world music forums. A bright confirmation to this fact is the holding of this event under the auspices of UNESCO as well as the ever growing interest and attention to this of countries, international organizations, celebrity musicians and artists. Thus, if the first festival held in 1997 attracted representatives of 31 nations, signers and musicians from 53 countries took part in this major music occasion in 2013. This year around, representatives of more than 60 states are expected to participate in this art festival.
Participants of the press conference discussed organizational aspects of the festival and the efforts being undertaken on this front. These days, active preparation works are underway to organize meeting of guests, hold concert programs at a high level. For the forum to prove eventful, tours around Tashkent, Samarkand are also projected, along with visits to education institutions and historical monuments, exhibitions of national handicrafts, of visual and applied arts, as well as the organization of artistic meetings and master classes.
The festival program is also going to include an academic conference to discuss the community of musical culture of the peoples of the East.
At the press conference journalists obtained corresponding answers to the questions they raised.
(Source:UzA)
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