UZBEKISTAN'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: AN IMPORTANT STAGE IN THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN
Omon Mukhamedjanov - Professor at Tashkent State University of Law, Doctor of Juridical Science
Seven years ago, Uzbekistan embarked on a new stage of development. During this period, a large number of cardinal reforms have been carried out in all spheres of the socio-political and economic life of the society.
Meanwhile, the most important areas included democratic reforms aimed at ensuring a wide range of human rights and freedoms, liberalisation of public and political life, and freedom of the media, as reflected in the new version of the Constitution. These reforms have also enabled the national electoral legislation to be updated, which facilitates the holding of elections at a new level.
As is well known, the main stages of the electoral process are regulated by legal acts: appointment of elections, formation of the organizational and technical basis, nomination and registration of candidates, campaigning, voting, determination of the results and their legitimation.
CENTRAL ASIA - EUROPEAN UNION: ON THE WAY TO FURTHER PROGRESS
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev will take part in the second meeting of the leaders of Central Asia and the European Union, which will be held on June 2 in the city of Cholpon-Ata (Kyrgyzstan).
It should be noted that the first meeting in such a format took place on October 27, 2022 in Astana (Kazakhstan) with the participation of the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
At the meeting in Astana, the head of our state, speaking for the consistent deepening of cooperation between our region and the European Union, highlighted a number of priority areas of interregional cooperation, and also confirmed Uzbekistan's commitment to an open, systematic and productive dialogue in the format of "Central Asia – the European Union" in the interests of stability, sustainable development and prosperity of the countries of the two regions.
It summed up the results of cooperation between the countries of Central Asia and the European Union over the past period and expressed readiness to continue partnership based on common values and mutual interests.
UZBEKISTAN'S EXPERIENCE IN THE GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY WAS DISCUSSED AT THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM IN TASHKENT
The II International Forum on Poverty Reduction has completed its work. Within the framework of 6 thematic panel sessions, a wide range of issues were discussed, problems and proposals for developing countries were voiced. The progress made in Uzbekistan in the field of poverty reduction was noted, despite such challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic, instability of the world economy, etc.
Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee, speaking about the reforms aimed at combating poverty in Uzbekistan, focused on the tools used to create social programs, increase the targeting of support for the poor, develop entrepreneurship, and understand the effectiveness of various programs adopted.
UZBEKISTAN REMAINS COMMITTED PRAGMATIC MODEL OF RELATIONS WITH AFGHANISTAN
Aziz Karimov - Independent researcher, expert on Central Asia and Afghanistan
With the election of Shavkat Mirziyoyev as head of state in 2016, Uzbekistan has significantly stepped up its policy in the Afghan direction. Since that time, the Afghan strategy of Uzbekistan has become even more meaningful, pragmatic and dynamic.
A vivid confirmation of this is the peace initiatives of Uzbekistan aimed at resolving the situation in Afghanistan. In particular, in 2018 at the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan, in Tashkent was held an international high-level conference on Afghanistan “Peace process, security cooperation and regional connectivity”.
ALFRED NOBEL PRIZE LAUREATE ABHIJIT BANERJEE: UZBEKISTAN SHOWS OTHER COUNTRIES BY ITS EXAMPLE HOW TO FIGHT POVERTY
Speaking at a conference in Tashkent, Abhijit Banerjee noted that standing here today, he feels the spirit of change in Uzbekistan and is proud to be able to say "let's do it"!
Tashkent hosted the II International Forum on the topic: "Implementing of best practices in poverty reduction", organized by the Center for Economic Research and Reforms (CERR) jointly with the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction of Uzbekistan, with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Uzbekistan and the United Nations Children's Fund in Uzbekistan (UNICEF).
Alfred Nobel Prize Laureate in 2019, co-founder of the global initiative to combat poverty J-PAL, american economist Abhijit Banerjee addressed the Forum participants with a greeting.
The expert noted that governments around the world are strengthening their social protection programs in response to the coronavirus pandemic, in particular, about 3,856 programs have been planned or implemented to date.