September 8, 2014
Weekly volume on UZEX declined to 173.6 billion soums. 2
investments: modernization of heat supply.. 2
Uzbekistan and Oman agreed project on construction of a library in Tashkent4
Session of the Executive Council of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)4
World Tourism Organization to Hold Its Session in Samarkand. 4
economy
Weekly volume on UZEX declined to 173.6 billion soums
The last week of August ended with a decrease of goods in the total amount realized on the Uzbek Republican commodity exchange (UZEX). For the period August 25-31, volume of deals decreased from 199 billion to 173.6 billion soums. This trading platform has demonstrated a negative trend. However, the amount of government procurement amounted to 20.3 billion soums, which is the weekly maximum for the current year. (Currency rates of CB from 08.09.2014 1$= 2351.84 soums)
Exchange trades
Sales on the stock market declined by 18.6%, from 162.5 billion to 132.3 billion soums. Reducing of the issue and implementation of the exchange of goods was observed in the segments of non-ferrous metals, feed for livestock, food, gas and polyethylene. This fact to some extent reflected in their share. The total share of liquefied natural gas and polyethylene decreased from 25% to 15%. The growth of sales of oil products amounted to 54.8% and their market share increased from 7% to 13%. The indices of the remaining segments of the market remain at the same levels as the previous week.
The export direction of the stock market witnessed a decline in sales volumes, which amounted to $512.1 thousand. Through currency trading platform implemented polyethylene, which share amounted to 89% and the cement – 11%.
Exhibition-fair trades
The volume of transactions concluded in the exhibition-fair trades, decreased to 14.3 billion soums. The decline affected both domestic and export sales, which amounted to 12.2 billion and 2.1 billion soums respectively. However, the number of contracts increased from 818 to 1179.
Despite the decrease in the amounts of transactions with 12.7 billion to 6.8 billion soums, the Tashkent branch continues to lead on the amount of transactions.
Public procurement
Last week marked a significant change during the auction bidding for public procurement. Trading volume has increased almost by 3 times and amounted to 20.3 billion soums, which is a weekly peak of the current year. The amount of savings also increased 2.5 times and amounted to 4.9 billion soums. The share of small business in total purchases amounted to 99.5%.
By number of deals first place held providers of Andijan region. Suppliers of Namangan region increased the number of concluded deals from 325 to 802, which is the second result. Third place was taken by the suppliers of the Samarkand region.
The amount of transactions made by the suppliers of capital, increased from 823.3 million to 5.6 billion soums.
Corporate procurement
The system of corporate procurement in trading volumes has declined. During the period purchases fell by 13.9% and amounted to 6.8 billion soums. Financial savings amounted to 1.0 billion soums, or 13.1% of the starting value of the procurement.
The number of deals decreased from 331 to 313 transactions. The average number of received counter orders per application was 5, and the maximum number reached 26. The largest deal of the week on 442.2 million soums occurred in Samarkand region.
According to the trading results, more than half of the market occupied the capital region. Leading positions also took Kashkadarya (9.1%), Bukhara (7.6%) and Samarkand region (7.6%). The greatest increase in the volume of transactions occurred in the Republic of Karakalpakstan.
(Source: UzReport.uz)
investments: modernization of heat supply
Securing Warmth in Winter
First days of September have not brought the expected coolness to Uzbekistan so far. However, soon the warmth will give way to the fall weather and further to the winter cold. Dozens of thousands employees of public services are preparing engineering systems for the fall-winter season across the country. Heat supply is the key service to provide warmth to the public even in extreme cold.
Comfort and quality of life of the population is the key indicator of effectiveness of any state. If people are appropriately provided with gas, electricity, water and heat supply, they will most likely be actively involved in the development processes in their country, achieving maximum results. The modern Uzbekistan is a vivid instance of this truth. Comfortable houses, schools, colleges, industrial and medical facilities are being built throughout the country, even in the most remote and inaccessible areas. So it is fairly natural that the country’s GDP has been showing a steady growth for over a decade, being one of the highest in the world, despite the upheavals in the global economic system. The people, living in comfort and with confidence in the future, are the driving force of change and the key to abovementioned indicators.
Lack of hot water or electricity supply ranks among the most pressing problems for the average person. Therefore, it is very important for housing and communal services to promptly address the urgent issues. In the early 1990s the domestic heat supply system was a huge and extremely clumsy mechanism. The mere fact that it was built at the turn of the 1960-1970s, says a lot. It was all about outdated equipment and technologies, so the loss of heat as early as in the process of delivery to the customer in some cases exceeded 40-50%. The heat supply of that period was based on the open water intake system, when the heating network of buildings was connected directly to the heating networks through various mixing devices, and hot water was supplied to the taps from the heating network after being chemically cleaned in boilers. Such a mechanism was simple and low-cost in terms of installation, but in long-term use it was highly wearing and had intense deposits in pipes, which had a serious impact on the heat supply. Heating efficiency was certainly out of the question because huge amounts of resources were spent for heating residential areas and industrial facilities.
The situation needed to be urgently changed. Therefore, from the first years of independence Uzbekistan embarked on an integrated upgrade of heating systems and streamline of the related regulatory framework. Boiler equipment has been gradually reconstructed and replaced, iron pipes have been replaced with efficient plastic ones, and energy-efficient technologies have been introduced. The progress was achieved after studying the international experience and painstaking selection of the most successful mechanisms in the field, which have been adapted to local conditions. However, it is too early to talk about the heat supply system at its height. There are still many issues that need to be addressed in the nearest future.
Advanced technologies and high energy cost are the new challenges: they require introducing new models of equipment and technologies, and changing completely the concept of long-term development. This fact was underlined in the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers in July, which without exaggeration is a landmark for the future of Uzbekistan’s heating system. Experts have developed a special ‘road map’ as a guideline for the next five years.
The elaboration of a basic document – the Concept of Development and Modernization of Urban Heat Supply Systems – has been completed. At the first stage, it envisages the modernization and overhaul of heat supply facilities in eight major cities of the country. Overall, the work is scheduled for 28 cities.
Transition of apartment buildings to a closed heating system with installation of individual heating stations is one of its highlights. In closed heating systems the water circulating in the pipe is solely used as a heat carrier, instead of being taken from the hot water supply network. It is planned to install integrated devices in house basements for distributing the heat coming from the common network. In this case, the process will be optimally processable and computerized to ensure a high quality of hot water supply and achieve the energy-saving effect.
The concept envisages the modernization and reconstruction of boilers and boiler equipment of district heating supply, as well as the installation of local and individual boilers in cases when apartment buildings are distant from the heating network. The government is projecting to replace and restore in-house heating system in apartment buildings, which is important for common people, and install communal heat meters on the bushings in apartment buildings. It is planned to pay special attention to cutting heat loss in the process of transportation through integrated modernization and reconstruction of main and heating systems, including replacement, reconstruction and insulation of pipelines with up-to-date insulating materials.
There is another important note: the modernization will be based on the domestically produced equipment. Several joint ventures have opened in Uzbekistan in recent years in cooperation with leading manufacturers in this field. For example, the joint-stock company Uztransgaz and the Italian Ariston Thermo International established a joint venture Ariston Thermo – UTG last year on the territory of the Navoi Free Industrial Economic Zone. It specializes in the production of gas heating and hot water boilers. At its full capacity the enterprise will manufacture up to 60,000 units of hardware a year. At the project’s first stage the founders have invested two million euros, and intend to increase production to 10,000 items. It is envisaged to localize the production with a gradual increase of its share in the course of its development, and create new jobs.
Worth noting is another unique initiative of Uzbekistan – the widespread use of solar energy. Research and development works on the invention of efficient photovoltaic systems for hot water and heat supply have been underway in Uzbekistan within the last decade. Solar power plants for hot water production have already been installed in Tashkent, Samarqand and other regions. There is the production of photovoltaic stations of various capacities. The recent special selective survey of the State Statistics Committee has summarized the information on the development of alternative energy sources and enhancement of power efficiency, which should contribute to the advancement of this sector.
(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Uzbekistan and Oman agreed project on construction of a library in Tashkent
Uzbekistan and Oman agreed project on construction of a building of library of the Institute of Oriental Studies named after Beruniy of the Uzbekistan Science Academy, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Oman to Uzbekistan Mohammed bin Said al Lawati said.
He said that Uzbekistan and Oman completed work on agreeing the project on construction of a building of library of the Institute of Oriental Studies named after Beruniy of the Uzbekistan Science Academy. He said that its implementation will start soon.
As earlier reported, Sultanate of Oman will issue a grant for US$15 million to construction of the building of the library of the Institute of Oriental Studies named after Beruniy of the Uzbekistan Science Academy.
The project envisages that Oman will finance construction and assembly works of new library of the Uzbek institute.
(Source: UzDaily.com)
Session of the Executive Council of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
World Tourism Organization to Hold Its Session in Samarkand
The 99th session of the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is to take place in Samarkand on October 1-3.
The event is organized in accordance with President Islam Karimov’s resolution signed 1 August and is expected to have the participation of officials of prominent international tourism organizations, specialists of academic centers and institutions, experts from Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America.
Our country wields enormous potential in the sphere of tourism. Special attention is paid under the leadership of the head of our state to the effective use of that potential and the promotion of travel industry. The picturesque nature, shrines, unique architectural and cultural monuments of our country have been attracting the growing number of tourists from around the world. The robust peace and stability, the atmosphere of mutual respect and harmony in our nation, the famed Uzbek hospitality, as well as modern hotels, recreation sites, and the high quality services are conducive for a meaningful leisure.
Many types of tourism have been developing today in Uzbekistan, including the ecological, geological, extreme, medical and cultural tourism, travel on horse, camel, car, along with alpinism, fishing and rafting. More than 900 tour enterprises operate currently in our country.
New tour routes are being elaborated, modern train stations and airports are being built, and transport communications are being perfected, all this facilitating the steadfast growth in the number of tourists arriving in Uzbekistan, the development of internal tourism, creation of new jobs and elevation of the wellbeing of the population.
Uzbekistan acceded to the World Tourism Organization in 1993. Samarkand houses a regional office of the organization for the coordination of development of tourism on the Great Silk Road.
At the General Assembly of the organization that took place in October 2011 in South Korea, the Republic of Uzbekistan was elected for the second time as member of the Executive Council of the UNWTO, a privilege few countries can boast. Therefore, and in order to popularize our rich historical-cultural heritage and the development of the tourism industry in the country, it was decided to hold the 99thsession of the Executive Council of the UNWTO in Samarkand in October 2014. This is a bright manifestation of the consistently growing standing of Uzbekistan in the international arena and the acknowledgement of the tremendous tourism potential of our country.
Uzbekistan ranks among the top ten nations of the world leading in the scale of tourism and the number of historical monuments. More than 4 thousand historical and cultural monuments exist in our country. The cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and Shahrisabz are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
It is no accidental that the 99th session of the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization is to be held in Samarkand. This ancient and the eternally young city, called by right as the adornment of the Earth and the pearl of the East, has from the antiquity been a center of science, trade and craftsmanship. In the independence years, wide-ranging construction and restoration works have been undertaken under the leadership of President Islam Karimov. The Registan Complex, the mausoleums of Amir Temur and Ruhobod, the Shahi Zinda Complex, the mosques Hazrati Hizr and Bibikhanum and the Ulugbek Observatory have been reconstructed. Numerous gardens and alleys have been laid in areas adjacent to them. These monuments, the wealth of not only our people, but also the entire humankind, were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001.
The extensive tourism opportunities of Samarkand are effectively used for the employment of population and for bolstering the economy of the city. In excess of 100 tour agencies and around 100 hotels currently operate here.
The international forum will facilitate the familiarization of the world public with the immense potential of our country in the sphere of tourism, the further consolidation and enhancement of cooperation with tour companies abroad. The session is to allow the leading experts of the world to exchange expertise and views on the current state and prospects of the international travel market, discuss new trends and pressing issues in the sphere and demonstrate new opportunities.
Issues concerning an even more extensive attraction of tourists into our country and the development of international cooperation are to be discussed with the participation of foreign specialists as part of the occasion.
The session participants will be familiarized with films and videos narrating the rich historical and cultural heritage, the picturesque nature and travel infrastructure of Uzbekistan. They will have an opportunity to visit the historic, scientific and cultural monuments of Samarkand and Bukhara and will witness the ingenious and beautification works carried out here.
A special page for this international forum is launched on the website of the United Nations World Tourism Organization at www.unwto.org.
(Source: UzA.uz)
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