Tashkent-Andijan passenger train starts operation. 1
2016 year – The Year of healthy mother and child.. 2
Happy families and children. 2
Uzbekistan National parliamentary. 2
Media in Uzbekistan: Yet More Mobile, Interactive, and Better! 4
INFRASTRUCTURE
Tashkent-Andijan passenger train starts operation
On 27 August the first passenger train from Tashkent departed to Andijan on the electrified railway line Angren-Pap, the construction of which was completed on the eve of the 25th anniversary of independence.
Happiness and pride can be seen on the faces of passengers. They thank the Almighty for the current peaceful and benevolent life; wish the country peace and prosperity.
Passengers talk about the huge transformations, happening in our country, in particular, about the steady reforms on developing transport and communications system.
From the first years of independence under the guidance of the head of our state, a particular attention was paid to the issue of uniting the all regions of our country under a single transport-communications system. For this purpose, thousands of kilometers of new railway lines have been built, a modern infrastructure has been created.
President Islam Karimov at the extraordinary session of the Andijan regional Kengash of people’s deputies spoke about the planned construction of the Angren-Pap electrified railway line and noted that this unique project will be completed in 2016.
In proof of these word, the Angren-Pap railway line with a total length of 123,1 km and Kamchik tunnel with a length of 19,2 km have been built.
On 22 June 2016 the official opening ceremony of the Angren-Pap railway line and Kamchik tunnel took place, in which President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and President of the People’ s Republic of China Xi Jinping participated.
This railway road allows carrying out cargo and passenger transportation to the Ferghana valley and back, and also serves as a significant part of the new international transit corridor China-Central Asia-Europe. The new road significantly increases the possibilities for Uzbekistan to get to the world markets, its export potential and transit role.
– Formerly, the transport-communications possibilities of Andijan, Fergana and Namangan regions, in which over 10 million people live, were significantly limited, – says a deputy head of the capital construction department of Uzbekistan temir yo’llari JSC, head of construction of the Angren-Pap electrified railway line, Hero of Uzbekistan Erkin Ummatov. – Under the former regime, a part of transport-communications networkd went through the territory of a neighboring country, which created many discomforts for the people and our economy. The people longed for the day when the Ferghana valley will be directly linked to other regions of our country via railway line.
…Leaving behind Angren, Pap, Kokand and Margilan, the train arrives in Andijan. Residents of Andijan greeted the guests under the sound of karnay and surnays and with bouquets fo flowers.
– We even could not realize how fast we arrived to Andijan from Tashkent in this modern passenger train, which has all necessary conditions, – says a people’s artist of Uzbekistan Erkin Komilov. – We still remember the difficulties we had to overcome through the territory of a neighboring country during the former regime. Today’s event is another manifestation of the independence, wide-scale reforms, implemented under the guidance of the President of our country. Today is truly a historical day.
The Andijan railway station hosted a solemn event to celebrate this event.
Khokim of Andijan region Sh.Abdurakhmonov, chairman of the Senate committee of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan on defense and security affairs F.Dadahodjaev, chairman of the Board of Uzbekiston temir yo’llari JSC A.Ramatov, professor of Namangan state university T.Fayzullaev, winner of the State Zulfiya prize S.Foziljonova and other noted that commissioning of the Angren-Pap electrified railway line will serve further growth of the economic potential of our country, increase of welfare of population and authority of Uzbekistan in international arena.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan B.Zakirov spoke at the event.
The train made its journey back to Tashkent from Andijan on the same day.
(Source: UzA)
2016 year – The Year of healthy mother and child
Happy families and children
The strengthening of families, mother and child health, upbringing of healthy and comprehensively advanced generation are the key priorities of the national program The Year of Healthy Mother and Child. More than 4.4 trillion soums (currency rates of CB RU from 30.08.2016, 1$= 2989.64 soums) and $111 million have already been invested for these purposes.
Life with comfort
Major construction has been in progress throughout the country. Towns and villages are getting more beautiful in full view. Most importantly, the large-scale transformations raise the living standards of the population, creating decent social, household and medical conditions.
By the end of the year, it is planned to complete the construction of 13,000 standard design houses concurrently with engineering, communication, social and market infrastructure. Over the years of the project implementation, several hundreds of thousands of families have been provided with modern and comfortable housing.
The provision of individual houses with electricity and natural gas has been of particular attention. The construction of 296.3 km of energy networks and 307.5 km of gas pipelines is currently underway. 1,300 km of water pipes are currently being built to supply the settlements with quality drinking water.
It is hard to imagine modern life without home appliances. The national program “The Year of Healthy Mother and Child” envisages the assistance for low-income families with purchasing household appliances. In particular, the Council of Federation of Trade Unions procures electrical appliances for 3,000 women from low-income families living in remote rural areas.
Young families are supported by means of mortgage loans for housing construction and renovation, purchase of household appliances. The central and commercial banks, the Council of Federation of Trade Unions work in this direction.
Health in the spotlight
The provision of health facilities with modern equipment has been underway. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has been attaching importance to the rational use of new technologies in strengthening people’s health. In order to make the ongoing measures even more effective, the medical workers are focused on the early revealing of diseases.
A Medical Nursing Month is currently underway across the country. It is the second rally this year to last until August 11. During the previous month on March 1 – April 1, more than 19 million people were covered with medical examination.
This time, it is planned to cover the same number of people. Appointments and examinations are carried out by over 30,000 general practitioners and visiting nurses, as well as hundreds of specialists in 30 areas of medicine.
(Source: «Business partner.uz» newspaper)
Society
Uzbekistan National parliamentary
The Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis held a conference “The Formation and development of the national parliamentary system” devoted to the 25th anniversary of the country’s independence.
Taking part in it along with the parliament members were senators, representatives of government bodies and administration, the Institute of monitoring of current legislation under the President of Uzbekistan, Academy of Government administration, representatives of science and mass media.
The speakers noted that the road of development, which complied with the national interests of Uzbekistan, was determined since the first days of independence, and a democratic national parliament had been set up, which was engaged in the lawmaking process in the interests of man. Its role and efficiency within the system of government administration has been significantly strengthened and consolidated.
The one chamber parliament, which operated till the year 2004, had contributed a tangible share to the shaping of the democratic political system of the newly independent state, just civil society, and the legal foundation of development of the social, political, economic, cultural and other spheres. It was namely during that period that was adopted the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, were formed the legal foundation of the electoral system, which secure the free expression of the people’s will.
Democratic reforms served the basis of development strategy, which were globally called “the Uzbek model” as a result of which were successfully formed all necessary conditions for the further improvement of the activities of the highest legislative body of our country based on the modern requirements.
The results of the nation-wide referendum held on the 27th of January 2002 a legal foundation was formed for shaping a two-chamber, permanently operating professional body – the Parliament, made up of the Legislative Chamber and Representative body, which expressed the interests of the regions – the Senate.
The Legislative power in Uzbekistan had entered a new stage of its advancement, which enabled to significantly raise the quality of adopted laws and the powers of Oliy Majlis on carrying out controlling functions were expanded.
The concept of further deepening democratic reforms and shaping up a civil society in the country put forward by the head of our state and approved by the Parliament had turned into an important motivation factor for strengthening the activities of the Houses of Parliament.
The amendments to the Constitution made on its basis further promoted the expansion of the powers of the Oliy Majlis, political party factions in the Legislative Chamber. In particular, included into the powers of the Oliy Majlis was included the task of hearing and discussion of the Prime Minister’s report on the topical issues of socio-economic development of our country and the implementation of parliamentary control.
The participants of the event listened to reports on the creation of an efficient system of planning and forecasting the law making activities, the experts’ and civil society representatives involvement in the discussion of draft laws. Also was underlined the ever-growing role and significance of political parties.
“The Block of Democratic forces” made up of two parties’ factions – those of Movement of Entrepreneurs and Business People – Liberal-Democratic Party of Uzbekistan and the “Milliy tiklanish” Democratic Party was formed and operate successfully today in the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis. Factions of the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan and the “Adolat” Social-Democratic party make a parliamentary opposition.
The report of our country’s President at the joint session of the Legislative Chamber and the Senate of Oliy Majlis held on the 23rd of January 2015 became an important factor in the reorganization of Parliamentary activities and improvement of mechanisms for efficient performance of its powers. Eight priority directions identified in the report served the basis for the Legislative Chamber’s plans for the short- and long-term future.
The conference participants also discussed the tasks facing the parliament on the further advancement of our country, expressed their opinions on the efficiency of the system of planning and forecasting in their law making activities.
“The Parliament plays an important role in shaping a civil society,” noted chairman of the Committee of the Lower Chamber on democratic institutions, non-government organizations and citizens’ bodies of self-government A.Saidov. “The Laws adopted in recent years have promoted the consolidation of civil institutions and government bodies and raising the efficiency in support of their activities.”
“Expert groups made up of scholars and specialists have been set up under the Committees of the Lower Chamber of Parliament,” stressed doctor of Law, Professor O.Oqyulov. “They take an active part in the discussion of legal acts, which facilitates the efficient organization of law making activities.”
The most important issues for the development of parliament have been specified and proposals elaborate on the implementation of tasks facing them.
(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)
Media in Uzbekistan: Yet More Mobile, Interactive, and Better!
Uzbekistan has been attaching special importance to freedom of expression and information, and transformation of media into a platform for people to openly express their thoughts and attitudes to current events. The republic is creating all the conditions needed for the development of the media and support for its representatives.
The role of nongovernmental television and radio channels, print and online media in bringing the essence of the ongoing reforms in Uzbekistan, the value of the progress and borders that have been achieved, the value of the current peaceful and happy life to the public with the focus on the younger generation. The role and place of the electronic media was noted in the ‘Concept of enhancing democratic reforms and building the civil society in the country’, which was put forward by President Islam Karimov and approved by the Parliament. Their further development is defined as one of the priorities of reformation of the information sector.
As emphasized by the state leader in his congratulatory message to the print and media workers, “from the very first days of independence our country has been consistently pursuing a policy of continuous enhancement of the role of media in society and their effective performance, strengthening of the legal and logistical capacity of media structures, promotion of social status and prestige of the journalist profession.
Uzbekistan has been paying a particular attention to the creation of equal conditions for the development of the governmental and nongovernmental media in the country’s information space. This is evidenced by the fact that the government budget has allocated about 14 billion soums (currency rates of CB RU from 30.08.2016, 1$= 2989.64 soums) in the form of loans, social orders and state grants in recent years alone to support the electronic and print media.”
The promotion of the development of domestic electronic mass media in the international community, the exchange of experience between national and international experts in the field, development of recommendations and proposals for further promising areas of their development have been the key objectives of the Media Days in August. They were organized by the National Association of Electronic Mass Media, the Parliamentary Commission for Management of Assets of the Public Fund for Support of NGOs and Other Civil Society Institutions, the Public Fund for Support and Development of Independent Print Media and News Agencies, the OSCE Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan, the Regional Office of Konrad Adenauer Foundation for Central Asia, UNESCO and UNICEF offices in Uzbekistan, Embassy of France, the Czech Republic in our country, and other partners.
The agenda included a scaled media camp Navqiron Jurnalistlar (Promising Journalists). The event took place in a picturesque part of Urgut district, in Chor Chinor health complex, as well as on the bases of STV Channel (Samarkand) and Bunyodkor TV complex in Tashkent under the slogan “Yet More Mobile, Interactive, and Better!” “Modern trends in the formation of a new generation of journalists, and prospects for expanding young audiences: the focus on multimedia journalism’ was the subject of the media camp.
The media camp brought together 200 representatives of central and regional television and radio stations. It included about 25 training seminars and workshops with the participation of international experts from France, Germany, Russia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and other countries, where during seven days the participants advanced their skills, got acquainted with the latest trends in production and distribution of media content, and discussed relevant issues of further development of the information sector.
The diversity of topics at workshops and trainings covered standards of professional journalism, application of new technologies in the production of talk shows, creative social ads dedicated to the Year of Mother and Child Health, the latest trends in TV design, methods of building content in radio news programs, innovations in presenting news, and others.
“I was surprised at how strongly the guys I was lucky to work with expressed their desire to learn and how active they were at practical classes,” shared the department head at SONY Russia Dmitry Bunevich. “I am impressed by the level of proficiency of the Uzbek operators.”
“I was impressed by communication with the young people in the media camp,” said the Head of the European Commission Country Office for Bulgaria, an expert on the media development in South-East Europe, Ognian Zlatev. “Young TV journalists of Uzbekistan are always interested in global trends in the sector, they are well informed. I tried to expand their knowledge of journalistic standards. For example, it is inappropriate to quickly comment on the event without checking the source first, and making sure in its credibility. All the participants grasped all I was saying. They have excellent prospects.”
“The classes in the media camp were held for a week in a picturesque corner of the Samarkand region,” said the head of public relations department of the UNICEF Country Office for Uzbekistan Atul Kumar. “One of the trainings was conducted by UNICEF experts. I participated in the workshop on production of children’s television programs. The urge for creativity in young TV journalists, their desire to acquire new knowledge and skills impressed me greatly. I believe, by the completion of the media days they realized how to use the new knowledge to the benefit of the people, and work with children for their welfare.”
The centerpiece of the Media Days was the international seminar titled ‘Enhancing the role of nongovernmental electronic media in the process of democratization and modernization of the country: the experience of Uzbekistan’.
It brought together members of the lower house of parliament, representatives of ministries and departments, state and public institutions, international organizations and foreign embassies in Uzbekistan, domestic and foreign experts from Germany, France, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Russia and other countries.
Prior to the start of the international forum, the participants visited the TV channel STV Samarkand, which marked its 25th anniversary. The guests were introduced to modern studios and shooting rooms, a museum of the TV channel, its history and development stages.
As noted at the workshop, electronic media have been getting popular in the country, television and radio market is booming, paving the way for pluralism of opinions in various strata of society. The process of capitalization of companies, increased interest of investors in the electronic media, expansion of the air ads market, and introduction of digital technologies have increased the number of nongovernmental television and radio channels. Uzbekistan has entered a new stage in the development of the media that generate national interests, are effectively involved in the democratic process, and meet international standards.
The evolution of electronic broadcasting in our country is obvious: the legal framework for the operation of the media corresponds to democratic standards.
Youth television studios operate in all regions of the country: enthusiastic young journalists try their pen, trying to be impartial in the search for truth. 98% of young journalists of electronic media were born and grew up in the years of independence, and their average age is 20.
They are free of the blinders imposed by the propaganda of the past, and are now showing patriotic enthusiasm and involvement in civic activity, online activism and intellectual maximalism.
This fact can not but affects the content they produce. The media products of young journalists reflect the free spirit of the new generation. Their reports, programs and social ads surprise not just the older generation of the national press, but also foreign experts with their creative formats, optimistic view on the current challenges, the impartiality of information.
The workshop was divided into three sessions. The first was dedicated to development trends of electronic media. The second session covered the ways of improving the quality of media content and socio-economic issues of the media in the conditions of their convergence, and the third was about the use of modern tools for access to global media platforms.
Speaking at the workshop, Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission for Management of Assets of the Public Fund for Support of NGOs and other Civil Society Institutions under Oliy Majlis Akmal Saidov elaborated on the instruments of targeted social support for the media. For example, in the current year NAEMM has received a grant of 19 billion soums for shifting TV stations to digital broadcasting. Over the recent years, the Parliamentary Commission has allocated over 15 billion soums in the form of state orders, subsidies and grants for the development of the media.
The participants heard reports on the media coverage of the activities of state authorities and administration, public institutions on strengthening of nongovernmental television and radio stations, development trends of the domestic media market, strengthening the economic independence of radio stations, interaction of media and social networking, and others.
Representatives of international organizations and foreign experts highly commended the conditions and opportunities for effective operation of electronic media in Uzbekistan, shared their experiences.
The international workshop was followed by the presentation of the outcomes of media camps in Tashkent and Chor Chinor recreation area , which took place in the Bogishamol Garden Park of Samarkand. The event was attended by over 200 people – foreign experts and representatives of international organizations, the media, the guests, who could personally watch the media products produced by young TV journalists during the media days. The whole event was very beautiful and solemn. No one stayed indifferent to the coolness of numerous fountains and the splendor of the Bogishamol Garden, a huge screen that demonstrated the creativity of the media camp participants. All the participants of the Media Days were presented with memorable gifts on that extraordinary evening.
Then Media Days continued in Tashkent. The National Association of Electronic Mass Media introduced the guests to the current state and prospects of development of infrastructure of the national nongovernmental television and radio broadcasting in Uzbekistan, its logistical capacity, human and technical resources.
The August Media Days were crowned by the traditional festival ‘Ozod Yurt Tulkinlari’ (Waves of the Free Country), which aim at promoting the creative and technical staff of electronic mass media in producing national social media products. Since its origin in 2007, the festival was attended by hundreds of media workers.
The best representatives of TV and radio studios came together for the festival from all over the republic. As noted by speakers at the opening of the event, along with serving the interests of society, mass media are destined to help people to orient in the events. They should namely orient, and not just report on the abstract facts, motivate the state and society to move forward on the path of progressive development.
The media is currently experiencing the stage when nongovernmental television and radio studios cease to be a simple tool for delivery of information and entertainment, but turn into the constructive force that can contribute to the further development of their country.
The true freedom of speech and democracy takes years of work, career development, training, speakers stressed. The task of growing a new generation of socially responsible and objective journalists is being successfully addressed.
Teams of nongovernmental television and radio stations presented their creative works in the categories “The top TV and radio products on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan, ‘The top media project dedicated to the national program the Year of Mother and Child Health’, ‘The top TV station’, ‘The best radio station’.
“In a few days our country will celebrate the dearest holiday, the Independence Day,” said the director of the Nukus FM radio station Bahtbek Elmanov. “In our broadcasts, we reflect how Uzbekistan has changed over the years of independence, positive changes in the minds and lives of the people, the boundless love for children and respect for elders.”
Selected by jury through the online voting, the winners were awarded the cherished crystal statuettes of the festival, diplomas and memorable gifts.
A new media complex of the nongovernmental youth television and radio company Vodiy Sadosi (Echo of the Valley) was presented as part of Media Days in Tashkent.
The new TV studio ZOR-TV of the TV and Radio Company demonstrated the most advanced media standards. All the equipment was purchased for loan foreign currency funds and exempt from customs duties in accordance with the Decree of the President of Uzbekistan ‘On granting additional tax benefits and preferences for further development of the media’ of 2011. Speaking of the state support, the presentation emphasized the remarkable contribution of the Parliamentary Commission for Management of Assets of the Public Fund for Support NGOs and Other Civil Society Institutions under the Oliy Majlis, which channeled 4.8 billion soums for the development of broadcasting media.
Ferghana hosted a workshop dedicated to the programs of nongovernmental television and radio stations on the preparation and celebration of the 25th anniversary of independence. The workshop was preceded by the opening of the new building of Margilon TV.
(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)
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