UZBEKISTAN: RESTRICTIONS ON MONOPOLY ACTIVITY ARE BEING STRENGTHENED BY THE CONSTITUTION
Furqat Yunusov - Expert of the "Development Strategy" Center
Economic relations are one of the important elements of civil society. They cannot appear and develop by themselves, but are formed under the influence of the state and society. If society has an influence on the economy through social norms, the state ensures its development based on the laws it adopts.
The changes introduced in the new Constitution are significant in that they are aimed at ensuring the stable development of the national economy by reducing the role of the state in the economy, minimizing the use of administrative regulation levers for economic processes, and expanding the participation of the private sector in the new stage of reforms based on the principles of economic liberalization and wide introduction of market mechanisms.
UZBEKISTAN: BUILDING A DEMOCRATIC SOCIAL STATE – THE MAIN OBJECTIVE
Jamshid Sharipov - Expert of the “Development Strategy” Center
Uzbekistan set a goal to change the principle of "state-society-person" to the new "man-society-state" principle and enshrine it in constitutional legislation and constitutional practice, and above all - to put human interests above anything else.
On December 7, 2021, President Sh. Mirziyoev, in his speech dedicated to the 29th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, said: “Nowadays, Uzbekistan is boldly moving towards building a social state and a just society. Therefore, it is time to enshrine the principle “The New Uzbekistan is a social state” as a constitutional provision”.
It should be noted that a social state is a model of a state that is aimed to provide quality education, qualified medical care, comprehensive support for families, children, women, older people, and persons with disabilities, provide housing for people in need, ensure employment, create safe working conditions, and reduce poverty.
PROPRIETARY RIGHTS WILL BE GUARANTEED IN UZBEKISTAN
Avazbek KHOLBEKOV - Expert of the Development Strategy Center, Uzbekistan
It is known that property is the economic basis of society. Also, the socio-economic structure of society is determined by property and who owns the property. Without property, it is impossible to develop social relations and implement measures aimed at ensuring the well-being of the people in the country.
Over the past five years, a number of laws have been adopted in our country to ensure the priority of private property and strengthen its legal protection.
Most importantly, based on the principle of "From Action Strategy to Development Strategy" there was adopted the "Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026", as a logical continuation of Action Strategy. In the document, turning the principles of justice and the rule of law into the most basic and necessary condition for development in the country was defined as one of the most important directions. Several necessary objectives were envisaged for this.
CENTRAL ASIAN REGION IN FOREIGN POLICY OF UZBEKISTAN
Farrukh KHAKIMOV - "Development Strategy" Center, Head of Department
Despite the complex geopolitical processes, conflicts and various crises taking place in the world, Uzbekistan promotes its national interests and effectively implements its peaceful foreign policy as a full-fledged actor of international relations.
The amendments and additions to the updated Constitution improve amongst others the constitutional foundations of the peaceful foreign policy of Uzbekistan. In particular, it is determined that Uzbekistan will strive to strengthen and develop friendly relations with the world community, primarily with neighbouring states on the basis of cooperation, mutual support, peace and harmony.
Indeed, for the last years following the prioritization of the development of friendly and mutually beneficial relations with the neighboring Central Asian states as the main priority of Uzbekistan’s foreign policy and also thanks to measures and initiatives in this priority direction, political dialogue and mutual trust have been strengthened in the region. Consultative meetings of the Heads of Central Asian States was established, the exchange of mutual official visits at various levels were intensified and transport links between countries and cities were restored. Moreover, solutions were found to such complex issues as water use, delimitation and demarcation of state borders, border crossing, and the use of transport communications at the regional level.
UZBEKISTAN: CONTINUATION OF REFORMS IN THE SECTOR OF EDUCATION - A PRIORITY TASK
Eldor TULYAKOV - Executive Director, Development Strategy Center of Uzbekistan
Over the last few years in Uzbekistan, as in developed countries, significant reforms have been carried out within the framework of the Strategy of Actions and its logical continuation, the Development Strategy, to progressively improve the continuous education system, provide quality education, and train qualified personnel.
In the last 6 years, the expenditures from the state budget for these reforms increased 4.3 times. The number of preschool education institutions increased from 5,211 in 2016 to 19,316 by 2021. The number of schools increased from 9,719 to 10,289, the 11-year compulsory school education was restored, the workload of school teachers was optimized, and forced labour was abolished. The monthly salary of personnel in the education sphere has been increased by almost 4 times, the number of HEIs has been increased from 70 to 191, and the two-level system of post-graduate education -primary doctorate (PhD) and doctorate (Doctor of Science) - has been introduced.