Download 081_Digest_#81_April_25_2016 - Consulate General of Uzbekistan

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Information digest of press of Uzbekistan
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INFORMATION DIGEST OF
PRESS OF UZBEKISTAN # 81
April 25, 2016
POLITICS .................................................................................................................................................................. 1
President of Uzbekistan to visit Russia ..................................................................................... 1
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION .................................................................................................................... 1
The Agreement entered into force ............................................................................................. 1
On upcoming Uzbek-Indian consultations ................................................................................ 1
INVESTMENTS ........................................................................................................................................................ 1
Proceeding along the path of modernization and renovation .................................................... 1
TOURISM .................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Tashkent is a leisure industry .................................................................................................... 3
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Press Service of the MFA of the Republic of Uzbekistan
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POLITICS
President of Uzbekistan to visit Russia
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov is to pay an official visit to the
Russian Federation on April 25-26, 2016 on the invitation of President Vladimir Putin.
During the visit the heads of states are to discuss pressing issues of the Uzbek-Russian
agenda, to exchange views on various regional and international problems.
The sides are expected to sign several bilateral documents aimed at further advancement
of the cooperation between Uzbekistan and Russia in various areas.
(Source: UzA)
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
The Agreement entered into force
On April 23, 2016, the Agreement on the Establishment of an International Transport
and Transit Corridor (Ashgabat Agreement) between the Governments of the Islamic Republic
of Iran, the Sultanate of Oman, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan entered into force,
which signed on April 25, 2011.
The document aims to create a reliable transport corridor for smooth transportation and
transit of goods between the countries of Central Asia and the ports of Persian Gulf and Oman
Sea.
The agreement boosts the increase of transportation speed aiming optimization of
transport costs as well as simplification and harmonization of legal instruments and procedures.
Full text of the document is available on the website www.lex.uz.
(Source: Press Service of the MFA of the Republic of Uzbekistan)
On upcoming Uzbek-Indian consultations
On April 25, 2016, the Delegation of the Republic of India headed by the Secretary of
the Ministry of External Affairs Sujata Mehta will arrive in Uzbekistan.
The program of the visit is planned to hold the next round of bilateral political
consultations at the level of Depute Foreign Ministers.
(Source: Press Service of the MFA of the Republic of Uzbekistan)
INVESTMENTS
Proceeding along the path of modernization and renovation
Having embarked on the path of state independence almost a quarter of a century ago,
the Republic of Uzbekistan goes on moving forward in all directions. The progressive market
reforms carried out across all spheres of life enables the country to maintain sustainable rates
of economic growth and high living standards. Last year Uzbekistan scored great strides in the
economic sector. GDP and production volumes of manufactured goods grew by 8 per cent, the
volume of farm produce increased by some 7 per cent and the number of completed
construction-assembly projects went up by 18 per cent.
According to the rankings of the World Economic Forum held in Switzerland in 2015,
the Republic of Uzbekistan was announced one of the world’s five nations with the fastestgrowing economies. The growth forecasts for the period 2016-2017 are also promising for the
country. Moreover, Uzbekistan is also one of the top ten states in the world, which succeeded
last year in achieving the best results in such a vital field as the improvement of an environment
for doing business and carrying out entrepreneurial activity.
The Republic of Uzbekistan is a member of the United Nations Organization and
cooperates with many international organizations and financial institutions. Many countries run
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Press Service of the MFA of the Republic of Uzbekistan
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their diplomatic representative offices on its territory. A lot of joint venture companies and
enterprises are created in Uzbekistan on terms of mutual advantage. According to official
statistics, in 2015, 494 joint ventures were set up in different industries of the national economy
with the participation of foreign capital. The main thing is that the Republic is now not mixed
up with Afghanistan, as it was before. These days, Uzbekistan is part and parcel of the world
community and the global financial-economic market.
People used to say that the truth arises from disputes and successes become evident in
comparison. In the past, both the position and the role of Uzbekistan were determined on the
basis of the fact that it was mainly a cotton producer within the framework of the former Soviet
Union. The Republic also supplied strategic mineral resources and cheap raw materials. As well
as that, Uzbekistan was a rather populous market for all sorts of finished goods. The structure of
its national economy was oriented not towards the process of reproduction, despite the
stupendous resource potentialities available, but towards the interim process of raw stuff supply
and importation of various product groups. Production facilities with an incomplete
technological cycle prevailed in the national economy, together with deep territorial
disproportions and a morally and physically decrepit production base. And it was only the
economic aspect. As far as the state policy is concerned, any attempts to decrease the pressure
from the center, to map out the country’s own road of development or to independently tackle
large-scale and structural problems, were interpreted as a display of nationalism and highhandedness.
At the same time, it would be unfair to ignore or even indiscriminately repudiate
everything that took place in those years. The more so, all of us, as it was accentuated by
President Karimov, have come from the past, from that economy, on whose basis the current
economy of independent Uzbekistan and its material-production base have sprouted. The
centralized training of scientific-pedagogical personnel, the provision of help and assistance in
case of earthquakes, drought and other negative natural calamities, the supply of equipment and
machinery, measures to avoid unemployment and poverty etc. have, without doubt, left positive
traces in the economic and social life of many republics of the former Soviet Union, including
Uzbekistan. Unfortunately, they couldn’t overlap certain structural faults in the deformed
economy, political repressions and suchlike. The country’s society was also damaged to a
considerable extent by a fully bureaucratic system of management in many spheres of life.
Luckily for Uzbekistan, all those shortcomings are behind to date. Over the years of its
independent development, the national economy grew almost 6-fold and the real per capita
income – more than 9-fold. Moreover, amid the global financial-economic crisis, the Republic
of Uzbekistan is acknowledged as one of the world’s handful of countries that continue to
develop at a stable pace. In the space of the past 11 years, its GDP growth rates exceeded 8 per
cent. Let it be pointed out here that foreign investments account for the equivalent of over US
$4 billion of the total amount. Compared with the last year’s level, the total volume of
implemented investments is bigger than the current year’s level by 9.3 per cent (by 20.8 – for
foreign investments).
Investments represent a resource base on which to realize any intensions – be them big
or small, economic or technical, industrial, agricultural or social. In the Uzbek leader’s words,
neither modernization nor renovation of the national economy is possible without investments.
And as a consequence, there is no economic growth whatsoever. As practice shows, investments
help to tackle production, economic and other problems easier and faster. For instance, over the
nine months of 2015, approximately 3,500 new production facilities came on stream
nationwide; large-scale enterprises replaced more than 2,000 units of morally and physically
obsolete equipment and machinery; resource- and labour-efficient technologies were inculcated
at many enterprises. As a result, the national economy was given an appreciable incentive, in the
form of a 10.4 per cent reduction of output’s prime cost and a 5.6 per cent increase in labour
productivity in the manufacturing sector.
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But investments, as is generally known, are of limited character. What’s more,
enterprises, organizations and institutions are not always provided with money funds from the
state pocket, as it was the case in Soviet times. In the market environment, the majority of
enterprises must earn the resources they need, including investments, themselves. Using them
in accordance with their own investment plans and strategies of industrial development, the
indigenous enterprises have to keep strictly to the only condition – the quickest recoupment and
return on invested capital. Investment activity is useless and has no practical sense without
observing this condition.
Speaking about the term of recoupment and return on investments ploughed into the
economy on today’s enormous scale, it is necessary to observe that enterprises should try to
develop production and to achieve economic growth not only by swelling investment volumes,
but also by using the so-called “non-capital” factors, such as the elaboration and introduction of
resource- and labour-efficient technologies, raising the level of personnel’s skills, increasing
their responsibility and minimizing non-productive expenditure and losses.
It would be perverse to think that non-capital factors really require no input on the part
of society. They can be regarded as non-capital only within the framework of separate industries
and enterprises, as well as in some special cases. But still, this fact should not be ignored when
it comes to restructuring and renovation of the national economy at all levels and across all
sectors.
As well as that, the importance of a given “small” possibility lies in the fact that modern
production and a developing economy demand much not just of machinery, equipment and
technology, but, first and foremost, of personnel, i.e. engineers and workers, who design, create
and operate them. That’s why special knowledge, a high level of professional training and
general culture turn into an indispensable condition of efficient labour at any enterprise, be it
already operational or a newly created one. Put differently, investments directed to
modernization and renovation of production capacities should be accompanied by an adequate
increase in skill levels, professionalism and responsibility of all categories of employees – from
workers to managers to enterprise leaders. By the way, the corporate form of management that
is now being introduced at many large-scale enterprises is aimed at attaining all these
objectives.
(Source: «Business partner.uz» newspaper)
TOURISM
Tashkent is a leisure industry
Spring is in the air. Cities bristle with posters, and the media abounds with
announcements. What is behind the palette of bright colors? Uzbekistan Today reporters
attempted to find an answer to the question.
Unparalleled Colors
The country is living an interesting and eventful cultural life, which is backed by a
whole industry of services. In the fight for customers, it competes with the Internet and TV.
Today the palette of cultural life is largely determined by people’s preferences. The domestic
entertainment and recreation industry here is something, which is not suppressed by the trends
of popular culture, retaining its face, and is characterized by a commitment to highly moral
national and universal values. Critics say that it was enriched with centuries-old national values
at the result of national revival policy pursued by Uzbekistan in the years of independence.
A festival of fine and applied arts is underway in the country. It clearly demonstrates the
aesthetics and demand for the products of the craftsmen who stick to the laws of the centuriesold traditions that are passed down from generation to generation. Moreover, they motivate the
masters for creating works of contemporary art. There is a reason behind the growing number of
trade hand-made fairs in the capital.
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The State Academic Orchestra of Folk Instruments has on several occasions
demonstrated its capacity to compete with colleagues from the symphony orchestra in
performing works by Strauss, Jenkins, Enya, Gershwin, Murtazavi, Hrisomalis, and other
composers. One such concert held at the State Conservatoire two weeks ago has vividly
confirmed this.
Spring in Uzbekistan is a time for festivities, a chance to get acquainted with the
traditional art of various nations on stage or in exhibition halls. For example, the agenda of
Navruz celebration involves concert performances of cultural centers of different nationalities
living in Uzbekistan. A worthy place in the palette of cultural diversity is occupied by creativity
meetings, literary evenings, exhibitions, concerts and competitions dedicated to the world days
of theater and poetry, the international day of museums, parks, children's book. The
International Day of Jazz, for instance lasts for a month in Uzbekistan for the second year run.
The Batyr Zakirov Jazz Band under the artistic guidance of Mansur Tashmatov has
become its creative pillar. By the way, almost all domestic groups presented at the festival have
established close creative relationships with the orchestra. The country's major jazz band
performs both solo and in collaboration with foreign parties. Music historians point out to the
growing popularity of the Tashkent festival. This year, the number of foreign participants has
almost doubled against the previous year. The American The Exchange has already pleased the
Tashkent and Samarkand audience with their voices and capella performance. Music amateurs
are currently anticipating the performances of Czech saxophonist Michal Wroblewski, a big
band of the Latvian radio, Dviki Darmawan from Indonesia, French pianist Hervé Sellana, and
jazz musicians from Turkey and Switzerland.
Spectacular
Theaters and cinemas have been leading in the number of posters in almost every corner
of the country. The number of theaters has increased to 39 professional teams in the last 24
years in Uzbekistan. The construction of new buildings for them is currently underway under
special projects. For instnace, the construction of the Andijan Puppet Theater and Youth Theater
in Nukus is currently in full swing. They have intensified their touring activity: more than 50
theater groups tour in remote villages.
Theaters accentuate the restoration of national and international classical works equally
with new productions. Having returned home after a long break, the State Academic Bolshoi
Theatre pleased its fans with news of the full restoration of the rich repertoire. The staff started
fulfilling the promise immediately. Opera Sadokat by Rustam Abdullayev, opera Aleko by
Sergei Rachmaninov, Ulugbek Musaev’s ballet Tomiris have topped the series of expected
surprises.
The Kashkadarya Regional Theater of Music Drama is currently running William
Shakespeare's ‘King Lear’, the Khorezm Theater – Sophocles' tragedy of Antigone, and the
Bukhara Regional Musical Drama and Comedy Theater has premiered Zafarnoma. Even the
Muqimi Drama and Comedy Theater, pleasing the spectators mainly with comedies of late, has
embarked on classics – the team is currently working on the production of a fairy tale, Tahir and
Zuhra.
Creative and Production Association Uzbekteatr has been attaching importance to the
creative exchange between theaters. For example, the production of the Mirzo Ulugbek play at
Samarkand Regional Drama and Music Theater involved not only a director and an artist, but
also an actor from Tashkent. It is a valuable experience for the young actors to work on the
same stage with the People's Artist of Uzbekistan Erkin Komilov. First-run performances had a
great success in Samarkand. The play will be performed in the capital on the stage of the Uzbek
National Academic Drama Theatre late April.
Global trends, experiments and innovations are close to the contemporary theatre of
Uzbekistan. Creative circles of Uzbekistan and Germany have been actively discussing the
outcomes of the exchange tours of the Youth Theatre of Uzbekistan and Youth Theatre of
Heidelberg. The Heinrich von Kleist's play Michael Kolhaas was staged as part of an
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international project in both theaters. And the experiment is unique in the fact that The Uzbek
director Obid Abdurakhmanov worked with German actors in Germany, and the German
director Francis Teresa Schütz worked with Uzbek actors in Uzbekistan. What has the
experiment showed?
Creativity has no limits, because the representatives of different theater schools managed
to create two completely different performances on the basis of one dramaturgical material.
There was much in common in these two works. The artist Philippe Kieffer created the cabinets
as the scenery, which were identical in both performances. The composer Vitaliy Aminov found
it right to write music separately for each performance.
As a result, dozens of productions of Michael Kolhaas are run today all over the world.
The Uzbek-German experiment has increased their number by two more. Schütz modernized
the play by dressing the characters in T-shirts saying ‘Me is Kolhaas’. They play online games,
write SMS, and the role of horses is 'performed' by bikes! .. The Obid Abdurakhmanov’s
production is much stricter. Special effects in the form of a projection of racing horses, alarming
leitmotif ...
Along with the foreign entertainment products, cinemas please the amateurs with
donesitally produced premiers. Though the number of cinemas has decreased, every regional
center will have its own cinema hall.
About 20 movies by local filmmakers are annually run on the big screens around the
country. The Rustam Sagdiev’s action premiere The Baron ranks among the most sensational
movies. The involvement of Russian and Hollywood actors and shootings in Russia and Turkey
has ensured the interest in the film long before it reached the screen.
Being the first Uzbek movie in 4K format, The Baron has symbolized the modernization
of the national cinema. Experts believe that the cinema development proigram will help to
intensify the production of the movies filmed using the latest technologies. In the near future,
film studios will receive the equipment for making high-definition movies and more realistic
cartoons.
In a Different Format
Freedom of creativity and diversity reigned in the grounds offering a new format of
recreation to mostly young audience. TCHK, Performance Bar and Event Cafe, for example,
offer cultural events in addition to traditional gastronomic services. It is always fun to spend
time there. TCHK, for instance, has been pleasing its audience with the brightest shows by
illusionist Dmitry Polyakov, performances of Wings of Origami and traditional humorous
evenings with the participation of Superpeople. Meetings with artists, architects as well as
movies at Cinema club are regular in the Event Cafe’s agenda.
Youth teams find their audience through social networks. Located in small premises,
they still garantee comfort for each guest. Sitting on the sofas or arm-chairs, the audience can
enjoy tea, coffee and even a meal.
Social networks have joined people in the movie club Paradiso. The community of
amateurs of good movie meets up periodically in the capital's cafes to watch and discuss rare
movies. Approximately the same scenario applies to the book club Suhbat.
Pop star projects enrich the cultural life. one of was The family musical Snow Queen by
Hasan and Husan Salikhovs ranked among the most anticipated events in a series of new year
productions of 2016. Live performance, a sea of drive and plastics have won the hearts of
spectators. Now they anticipate a new show entitled My Tashkent. The premiere is scheduled
for May with participation of pop stars.
Through the Eyes of Exhibitions
Expositions of exhibition halls and museums strike with diversity unlike the monotony
of personal exhibitions of artists, subject shows on the occasion of celebrations. Uzbek art
leading critics point out to the lack of dynamics too. The latest trends suggest that the criticism
was heard.
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The evening of Uzbek traditional epic at the State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan caused
a public response. Spectators got acquainted with a variety of traditional arts, the masterpieces
of world culture, and heard the epics by the renowned epic teller Abdunazar Poyonov.
Visitors have been increasingly involved in projects. For example, a project of the
‘Afishka’ short film festival ‘Puzzles of Art’ is a demonstration of pictures and works of artists,
which is accompanied by custom-composed music. Three exhibitions under the project were
distinguished by the number of participants. The first one featured the works participating in the
‘Afishka’ festival, the second exhibited the works of indended participants, and the last
exhibition featured all those who wanted to participate.
Here is another interesting project. On April 26, the Tashkent House of Photography will
host the final leg of the contest ‘Draw Me a Song’ on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of
Botir Zakirov. It will feature works by painters inspired by the works of the famous artist.
Apparently, this is just the beginning. Museums had excuses in the lack of space. The
problem was taken into account when designing the reconstruction of existing and construction
of new buildings for of this type of institutions. For example, the new buildings of the Savitsky
State Museum of Arts of Karakalpakstan, which are being prepared for commissioning, provide
the conditions for storage and restoration of masterpieces, space the various events, symposia,
film shows. There is even a gift shop and a coffee room to make the museum more convenient
and attractive.
Outdoors
Events in the parks do not need posters. There are always many visitors, who take
interest in performances of artistic teams of culture and leisure centers. Amateur artists often
show a high professional level. It couldn’t be different, since the ongoing program on
strengthening the logistical caqpacity of this kind of institutions has been providing decent
conditions for their rehearsals and performance. The technical capacity of the centers will be
upgraded under the complex of measures by 2018.
About fifty parks have been rehabilitated over the past five years in various parts of the
country, the others undergo modernization.
Owing to a targeted program, parks will please their visitors not only with new rides.
The development of a water park network has been in progress. There are currently three water
parks in Tashkent alone, there are several in the regions. A water park in Zarafshan of Navoi is
the latest park. One is being built in the Samarkand region. There are parks with ice rinks and
cart tracks.
Core specialists are currently working on the construction of Tashkent Zoo branches in
Samarkand and Ferghana, and on the reconstruction of Termez Zoo. By the way, in Namangan
zoo appeared thanks to the efforts of entrepreneurs.
(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)
Reference to the source is a must in reproducing materials
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Press Service of the MFA of the Republic of Uzbekistan
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