July 31, 2014
The share of small business in GDP of Uzbekistan went up 43.9%.. 2
Policy
Meeting at the Oqsaroy
At the Oqsaroy on July 30, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received Lloyd Austin, Commander of the United States Central Command, who has been visiting our country.
Current issues in the bilateral cooperation across diverse spheres as well as some topics in regional and international affairs have been discussed during the conversation.
Llyod Austin expressed gratefulness for the opportunity to exchange views on the present state and development prospects of the Uzbek-American relations in areas of shared interest and confirmed the willingness of the United States to consolidate the multilayered interaction with Uzbekistan.
(Source: Press-service of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan)
finance
The share of small business in GDP of Uzbekistan went up 43.9%
The Ministry of Economy and the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan have prepared a report on the results of socio-economic development of Uzbekistan for the first half of 2014.
According to the report, about 14.3 thousand new small business subjects (except farm enterprises) have been created during the first six months of 2014.
At the same time the significant share of created subjects goes to the industry (26.4% from total amount), trade and public catering spheres (29.3%), and construction (12,4%).
As a result the share of small business in GDP have increased to 43.9% (43.2% in the first half of 2013), in industry – to 28.4%, paid services – 45.2%, employment – 76.4%.
(Source: UzReport.uz)
technologies
National domain: aged one
The annual .UZ national domain Internet festival started in Tashkent last week. This year the competition during the event is going to be fierce, for over 100 websites were submitted for registration with it on its first application day.
Holding such events has already been a long tradition in Uzbekistan. The first contest aimed at selecting the best websites of the Uzbek segment of the global network was held in 2001. Since 2007, the contest named Internet Festival of .UZ National Domain has been held annually.
It is difficult to know exactly how the festival contributes to the development of .UZ domain, but the number of its participants growing year by year shows that Uzbekistan’s .UZ website owners find it very useful and need it badly. The festival acts as a sort of litmus paper indicating the state of the domestic Internet segment. Currently, there are around 18,200 websites in .UZ domain zone, with 4,141 new websites registered with it since the beginning year. This number is not large, of course, in contrast to European countries, but there is a positive trend gaining momentum evident. It is worth noting that .UZ domain features more and more original projects; among the ten contest categories, the largest number of participating websites competes in the category The Discovery of the Year.
“In each category, first, second and third places with certificates and prizes are expected to be awarded. In some categories, however, if the jury decides so, there will be no awards at all,” said Aleksaridr Suchkov, Chairman of the Editorial Board of InfoCOM. UZ, one of the organizers of the contest. “The highlights of this year’s event will be contests in domestic mobile applications and social networks groups categories.”
The closing ceremony of the festival is to be held at the Youth Creativity Palace on September 22, on the first day of the Information Technologies Week of InfoCOM 2014.
(Source: “Uzbekistan Today” newspaper)
tourism
Eating well
The world’s culinary traditions depend on the geographic area where people live, as well as their history and religion; key factors that contribute to the distinctiveness and uniqueness of national cuisine.
We keep introducing you to traditional Uzbek recipes. This time our focus will on healthy diet dishes. There are a wide variety of healthy dishes in the local cuisine: those made with milk and fermented milk, porridges, stewed vegetables, and steamed dishes with lean meat and without meat, such as guja, chalop, shirkhurda, khurda, atala, manti dumplings with greens, and many others.
When it comes to healthy meals, eating food in season is quite important. Nature itself prescribes us our diets. The Uzbekistan climate provides fresh greens, herbs and vegetables right from the local gardens from as early as the beginning of spring. To start, let us cook chalop, a spring-and-summer cold soup with a fermented milk base. It is like Russian okrosh-ka, though lighter and healthier.
For chalop you will need katyk fermented milk, cold boiled water, two medium cucumbers, some small radishes, a large Margilan radish, scallions, coriander leaves, dill, a few basil leaves, and salt and pepper. Dilute the thick katyk with a little water and add salt and pepper to taste. Cut the vegetables into thin strips. Chop the scallions and herbs finely and mix them all into the katyk base; let the soup chill.
In Uzbekistan, it is customary to have appetizer dishes before main courses.
Traditionally, local appetizers include fresh bread, salads and a number of hors d’oeuvres. One of the most popular of them is suzma, strained katyk (with no whey left in it), which has the consistency of cream cheese. Suzma is usually seasoned with dill, coriander, scallions, salt and pepper to taste.
You will hardly find guja, the traditional Uzbek milk soup, in restaurants, because it is usually a homemade food. The soup has a skim milk base and is oil-free. You will need two mugs of ground wheat grains, 0.5 liters of milk, plus salt and sugar to make the soup.
Soak the wheat grains in water for around 30 minutes to let them swell. Strain and add a few mugs of fresh water and set to boil, skimming off any surface froth. Heat the milk and add it to the soup, allow everything to simmer gently while stirring. When it is ready, add salt and sugar to taste. Let the soup steep for five minutes and serve with fresh fruits or dried apricots and raisins. There is also a guja soup with cucumbers, greens and herbs, a very thirst-quenching and filling dish.
Mid-summer is a good time for vegetables cooked in their own juices. Particularly popular is pumpkin steamed in manti dumplings, baked in somsa pasties, stewed in milk, or added to soups and porridges. We propose that you try to make a dessert pumpkin ragout, it can be either baked or stewed.
You will need 500 grams of sweet pumpkin, dried fruits, walnuts, almonds and 1 to 2 tablespoons of honey. Spices are added to taste. You can use icing sugar instead of honey.
Peel the pumpkin, cut it into small pieces, and place in a baking container. Add the fried fruits, nuts and spices. Wrap the container tightly in foil and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. When it is ready, pour the honey over it.
Bon appétit!
(Source: “Uzbekistan airways” magazine)