INFORMATION DIGEST OF PRESS OF UZBEKISTAN # 40

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February 25, 2015

INFORMATION DIGEST OF PRESS OF UZBEKISTAN # 40

February25, 2015

uzbek_digesteconomy.. 2

SamAuto produces its 20,000th automobile. 2

elections to the oliy majlis of the republic of uzbekistan and local Kengashes of people’s deputies. 2

OSCE/ODIHR publishes final report on parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan. 2

International cooperation.. 3

The Gas Perspectives of Kandym.. 3

Society.. 4

Improving Health with Comfort4

 

 

 

 

economy

SamAuto produces its 20,000th automobile

Samarkand Automobile Plant (SamAuto) hosted a solemn ceremony of the production of the 20,000th automobile on 20 February 2015.

The jubilee automobile, produced at SamAuto, became ISUZU NPR82, which works on compressed natural gas (CNG).

Representatives of ISUZU Motors, Itochu Corporation and Uzavtosanoat participated in the solemn ceremony.

Executive Vice President of ISUZU Motors Ltd. Takanobu Furuta said that it is great honour to participate in the solemn ceremony of production of jubilee 20,000th automobile of Samarkand Automobile Plant. It is pleasant that the 20,000th produced automobile became a model, which works on natural gas. It is new generation of ecologic transport, which meets high European standards, he added.

SamAuto started to produce automobiles with CNG-consuming engines in 2011 in line with the decision of the Government of Uzbekistan.

Within the implemented project, approved the governmental resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers from 3 December 2013, SamAuto received an order for production of 1,000 units of CNG-consuming sanitation cars. The plant also produces three more models, which are equipped with CNG-engines.

It is worth to mention that SamAuto produced its 10,000th automobile on 30 May 2012. The bus of SAN NP37 was the 10,000th automobile produced at the plant. SamAuto plans to produce its 30,000th automobile by the end 2016.

SamAuto is a plant on production of commercial automobile (trucks and buses on the bases of ISUZU chassis) in Uzbekistan. It is located in Samarkand. Its founders are Uzavtosanoat, Asaka Bank and Japan’s Itochu Corporation.

(Source: UzDaily.com)

elections to the oliy majlis of the republic of uzbekistan and local Kengashes of people’s deputies

OSCE/ODIHR publishes final report on parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan

Parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan, which took place in December 2014, were organized competently, a final report of the limited observation mission of the OSCE/ODIHR said. The report was published at the website of the organization.

The limited observation mission of the OSCE/ODIHR led by Ambassador Daan Everts observed elections to the Legislative Chamber and local Councils of People’s Deputies, which were held on 21 December 2014. The mission included main team, which included 12 persons, in Tashkent, and 8 long-term observers, who worked in the regions of Uzbekistan.

The report said that the Central Election Commission (CEC) took active measures to increase the level of transparency in its work and to inform the public about the elections. The Central Election Commission (CEC) managed the technical preparations for the elections competently and met all legal deadlines, the document stated.

The amendments to the electoral legal framework took into account some previous OSCE/ODIHR recommendations and introduced more detailed regulations with regard to election campaign activities and voting procedures, the observation mission said.

The mission underlined that in line with the legal framework, election-related expenses of contestants are covered by the state. The amount of state funding allocated to a political party depends on the number of candidates and was significantly increased for these elections.

Mahalla committees played a prominent role in assisting the election administration at the local level, including in constituency boundary delimitation, selection of commission members, distribution of election-related information to the voters, and compilation of the voter lists, the report said.

Candidates and political parties organized their campaign events with support of and in co-ordination with the mahallas, and PECs and DECs that provided venues to candidates and political parties for their meetings with voters. Main campaign messages were conveyed through billboards, posters, leaflets, indoor meetings and advertisement in the media, as well as on the Internet.

Overall, voting process and counting of votes were efficient and transparent, the report noted. The mission said that all conditions for voters were created in polling stations, which the observation mission visited.

The CEC registered 535 candidates, including 170 women (31.8 per cent) and a number of representatives of national minorities.

The OSCE/ODIHR observation also gave some recommendations on elimination of some shortages in election process.

Currently, the limited observation mission of the OSCE/ODIHR led by Ambassador Tana de Zulueta started its work in Uzbekistan to observe upcoming presidential elections. The mission includes 11 international experts and 10 long-term observers.

(Source: UzDaily.com)

International cooperation

The Gas Perspectives of Kandym

The Russian oil giant Lukoil has signed contract for the construction of Kandym Gas Processing Plant in Uzbekistan.

The Uzbek oil and gas industry has been the region’s leader in the number of ongoing high-tech projects. This fact is especially relevant under the current conditions, when hydrocarbon prices have rapidly gone down. Yet in the late 1990s, Uzbekistan launched a phased strategy on reduction of the supply of raw materials abroad and intensification of domestic oil and gas processing. Shurtan Gas and Chemical Complex, Bukhara and Fergana refineries were built and fully upgraded within a short period of time.

This September, Uzbekistan is planning to launch a unique Ustyurt Gas ana Chemical Complex in Karakalpakstan. These facilities are unique in terms of equipment and quality of processing.

In the near future Uzbekistan is going to launch the Kandym Gas Processing Plant – another high-tech facility. Late last week the Russian Lukoil signed contract with a consortium of contractors led by Hyundai Engineering (South Korea) in Tashkent for the supply of equipment and construction of a major facility that could bring up the economy of the region, as well as entire Uzbekistan, to a new level.

The plant with the annual capacity of 8.1 billion cubic meters of gas will allow processing hydrogen sulfide natural gas from the Kandym group of fields located in the Buknara region,to obtain a purified natural gas, stable gas condensate, as well as lump and granulated sulfur. The feasibility study and engineering documentation on the construction project will be designed by Hyundai Engineering.

The construction of the Kandym Gas Processing Plant ranks among the largest Lukoil invested projects in Uzbekistan. Its implementation will create more than 2,000 jobs, and about 10,000 jobs at the height of construction.

Lukoil has been implementing the Kandym project since 2004 in cooperation with Uzbekneftegaz National Holding Company under the Production Sharing Agreement Kandym- Hauzak-Shady-Kungrad. The Kandym group includes 6 gas condensate fields – Kandym, Kuvachi-Alat, Akkum, Parsankul, Khodji and Western Khodji.

(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)

Society

Improving Health with Comfort

Picturesque nature, comfortable rooms, dietetic service, caring staff, improvement of health with mineral water, therapeutic muds and other natural factors … Health resorts across the country harmoniously combine all of these recreational facilities. Of late, they have been actively involved in the implementation of nationwide social programs.

It seems too early to talk about treatment and health improvement in winter time. For most of us, the arrangement of recreation is a matter of the summer. Meanwhile, creation of optimal conditions for the recovery is a matter of a year-round concern for the administration of each of the 52 health centers throughout the country, regardless of their status. Approved by the government, regular social programs assign them with additional missions.

The Year of the Healthy Child, Year of Attention and Care for the Senior Generation, the Presidential Decree ‘On intensification of the social support of veterans of war and labor front line of 1941-1945’ have set pivotal missions in the related field. It is worth to mention the responsibility the administration of resorts is attaching to the implementation of the documents. In the process of preparation administrations of resorts improve their infrastructure, logistical capacity, advance skills of the staff to make them more comfortable for various categories of visitors.

Today there is no health resort in the country that would not seek to meet the demands of vacationers that are changing rapidly amid the rising standards of living. Exotics have been gaining a foothold in domestic health resorts in recent years: heated stone massage, procedures in artificial atmosphere of salt mountains, special medical walks with ski poles, cedar barrels, and others. Health resorts have been leading positions in the introduction of modern physiotherapy methods of rehabilitation, including laser, shock wave therapy, and many other technologies.

In the Year of the Healthy Child,

the Council of the Federation of Trade Unions has significantly increased the number of special ‘Mother and Child’ vouchers, which give parents the opportunity to rest with their children. That was highly appreciated by those who are not able to leave their children with grandparents or other relatives.

Last year, almost 3,500 children took rest together with their mothers. The administration of the Federation of Trade Unions promised to continue providing vouchers with discounts for family vacation this year as well. The experience of organization of joint recreation of parents and children in Zomin, Oqtosh, Kosonsoy, Chimyon, Chortoq, Botanika, Buston and Umid Gulshani health resorts is studied and adopted by many other resorts.

It turns out that creation of favorable conditions for joint recreation of mothers and their children is a true art. The rest should be built in a way that everyone had a proper rest, nobody interfered with each other and received their share of positive emotions.

With this in mind, the administrations built special zones similar to nursery schools. In most cases, the specialized rooms with wide range of toys and games are complemented by children’s playground with various attractions. Before going to the treatment, mothers leave their kids under the care of a professional educator who looks after children, arranges their leisure time and a variety of recreational activities.

Mothers feel confident that their children are well looked after, so they take the treatment prescribed being free from parental hassle. Children are occupied as well in an interesting and unusual kindergarten. It is arranged in a way that the children are interested in spending their time with maximum benefit for their health and development. Their schedule includes dietary nutrition, physiotherapy exercises, and some health resorts provide access to the pool. Much time is spent walking outdoors. After a ‘busy day’ a family meets in a comfortable room.

The situation has turned quite different in 2015, in line with the Year of Attention and Care for the Senior Generation, and the Presidential Decree, which has enabled war and labor veterans to undergo rehabilitation in the best health resorts of the country once a year.

The program covers 37 out of all 52 health resorts across the country. They currently finalize preparations for receiving war and labor veterans. The first visitors are expected early this March. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection issues vouchers following a medical examination with en eye to the patients’ wishes.

All 15 health resorts of the Council of the Federation of Trade Unions have been the first to complete preparations. According to experts, this experience has been recognized as the country’s best, and recommended for other resorts to follow.

The work covers almost all services and branches of health resorts. A nurse at an admission department would welcome a veteran and help him reach his room, or would accompany him during the whole course of treatment if needed. People with musculoskeletal diseases are provided with wheelchairs, and the buildings are equipped with ramps.

Veterans will live in specially designated rooms close to the dining room and the medical building for their convenience. The rooms are equipped with special warning systems for calling a nurse or a doctor. Jointly with nutritionists, skilled cooks have worked out a menu taking into account the state of patients’ health.

Medical service has been advanced as well. Health resorts are introducing a position of a gerontologist. Gerontologists undergo training at the Tashkent Institute of Advanced Medical Studies. A doctor would select an optimal treatment scheme for a patient, prevent duplication of drugs and maximally invoke drug-free methods.

People come to health resorts to relax or improve health, but most often they try to combine both objectives. The veterans will be offered an experienced psychologist to ensure the optimal effect from the treatment.

The leisure of veterans is scheduled in advance: there is a selection of movies, melodies and songs that meet the interests of vacationers’ age groups.

A few hundreds of ordinary Uzbekistanis annually go on vacation to health resorts. Their number is constantly growing. Domestic resorts are located in unique climatic zones. The majority of resort facilities offer mineral water springs. Similar waters can be found at the top resorts in Italy, Germany, Spain, Russia, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Bulgaria and other countries. Mud therapy is getting very popular: healing mud is delivered to health resorts from the Balyqchi Lake of Jizzakh region.

Today’s vacationers are exacting about comfort and living conditions. Health resorts enhance the level and quality of services. Most of them have recently overhauled and reconstructed their sleeping quarters and medical buildings in line with current requirements and demands of the population. The rooms of the best resorts resemble luxury hotel rooms with modern furniture, TV and other household utensils.

The construction of separate campgrounds and cottages has been a relatively new trend for health resorts. They gain popularity due to the promotion of corporate and family vacation.

The holidays with comfort are increasingly getting popular, as evidenced by the dynamics of the construction of new health-resort areas. Currently desolated, but previously popular resorts and recreation areas are trying to remedy the situation, inviting the leading organizers of people’s recreation to help them.

In 2014, the largest network of health resorts of the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan set up two recreation areas, which within short period joint the ranks of exemplary and popular resorts.

Ahmad al-Farghoni recreation zone is located in the Arsiv village of Kuvasay District of Fergana region at an altitude of 600 m above sea level. A picturesque view of green gardens and flower beds, pure air with plenty of sunshine attract vacationers and effectively elevate mood.

Oqtosh-Shaboda recreation zone is situated in Bostanlik District of Tashkent region, 60 km away from the capital. Its territory is surrounded by mountain slopes with broadleaf forests. The Chorvoq reservoir, Chirchiq, Oqtosh and Ayubsay rivers flowing close to the cottages hydroionize the air. The microclimate produces a favorable effect on the treatment of respiratory diseases.

This year, the family of FTU resorts has enlisted another resort. It is currently being established on the base of the former branch of the Republican Specialized Research Medical Center of Therapy and Rehabilitation. More popularly known as the Semashko Health Resort, the Center has set the course for the development of modern high-tech and advanced medicinal therapies. In the light of contemporary public healthcare the branch is likely to become more of a resort rather than a medical institution. That is the reason why these measures are implemented there. After registration procedures it is planned to reconstruct the buildings and carry out landscaping improvement of its territory. Meanwhile, the most important things will remain unchanged: the exotic location of the resort amid the sands on the shore of the artificial warm Uchkyzyl Lake, where salt used to be extracted in the past; hydrogen sulphide and iodine-bromine mineral water springs and sand baths, as well as the profile of the Center. Thus, the south of the country is apparently becoming more attractive for the people who choose local resorts.

(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)

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