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19Strategy of Uzbekistan №04 (2020) / ISSN 2181-2535 Journal home page: https://journal.strategy.uz
ACTION STRATEGY - PROGRAM OF THE NEW RENAISSANC PERIOD
Sodiq SAFOEV,
Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan First Deputy Chairman
Winston Churchill said that people who firmly believe in a clear strategy and its prospects are more prepared and able to cope with the various twists and turns of life than those who do not have
the ability to see far. Four years ago, the doctrine of development - the Strategy of Action, which marked a turning point in the development of our state and society, was adopted.
Each of us must
objectively remember the situation that prevailed in the country before 2016 in order to understand its place in the life of every family. For many years, due to cowardice, they did not take bold steps,
stalled the solution of problems, and hid for fear of telling the real situation openly. We were the last in the whole community of independent states to introduce our national currency.
No real privatization - the groundwork for change - has taken place. Instead of a true economic diagnosis, we boasted, consoled ourselves with some false, fabricated figures, and fell in love with the praise of «foreign experts», whom no one knew, who had some interests of their own. As a result, an extremely dangerous situation arose. Deterioration of living standards, unemployment, loss of public relations, violation of economic freedom and human rights, corruption, bureaucracy and other vices have increased public distrust of government.
I remember: When I was rector of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy, the alumni were going to organize a meeting in 2015. It turned out that 49 of the 55 classmates who graduated 10 years ago were working abroad. Why didn't they find a job or want to work in their
own country? I am sure that this is not because they lack a sense of patriotism, but because the environment at that time pushed them out of the homeland. Although the country has a top-down approach to what farmers grow and sell at what price, and raw cotton is a valuable export commodity, farmers are paid a small fraction of the world market price, cotton is unprofitable, and farmers are subject to the old Soviet «coercion» developed in the system. For this reason, cotton picking is the responsibility of schoolchildren, students, teachers, doctors and other «hasharchi», and Uzbekistan has been put into a number of international «blacklists».
Well-known economists D. Ajemoglu and J. Robinson, in their famous book «Why Countries Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty» published in 2012, included Uzbekistan in the list of "countries that are currently in decline due to the extractive (i.e., the general population is deprived of the process of distribution of income from their activities -
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S.S.) economic system". According to the World Bank, the total volume of foreign investment in Uzbekistan in 2015 amounted to only $ 1.06 billion. This is 6 times less than in neighboring Kazakhstan. Even Kyrgyzstan was able to attract more investment.
In terms of per capita investment, Uzbekistan ranked last in the region. We have forgotten the golden rule of diplomacy - the principle «it is easy to gain enemies, but is necessary to increase the number of partners.» At that time, it was difficult to find a state which is benevolent, friendly to us. Due to the unstable foreign policy, we have become indifferent to Central Asia and Afghanistan - neighboring countries, millennial fraternal peoples. In order to take part in the ceremonies for good and bad of our flesh and blood people living a mile away across the border, we had to go through a lot of paperwork, get scared, and while we managed to get to the destination, the ceremony was over, so our
pain has been doubled.
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Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who took office in 2016,
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inherited such a heavy burden. Getting the state out of the brink of disaster required extraordinary measures, extraordinary courage, extraordinary bravery. The President boldly took on this responsibility and confidently followed others. The most important of the qualities that are always characteristic of the leaders of great states is high thinking, the ability to anticipate the course of events, the ability to scientifically predict the development and direction of processes.
Based on an in-depth analysis of the state of our society, the President justified and promoted the need for an updated
domestic and foreign policy program. The changes have defined a new ideology for the development of our society, our state. The people supported the long-awaited change. Because the reforms were in harmony with the aspirations and hopes of the people. One thing is clear to me: if the system of public administration is not radically improved in time, new powers are not given to the regions, the role of parliament, civil society, the media is not raised, economic reforms are not launched, a new approach to human rights is not implemented and
policy is not pursued, the situation in our country today would be extremely difficult.
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The fact that the strategy of action incorporates the views and opinions of not only the most mature professionals, but also the people, the general public, further enhanced its cognitive power. We have all witnessed that this document was discussed lively, with great interest, at every level of our society, in all regions. Thousands of proposals have been put forward, and this is a sign of the growing political
a completely new foreign
The fact that the strategy of action incorporates the views and opinions of not only the most mature professionals, but also the people, the general public, further enhanced its cognitive power.
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consciousness and activism of our people, their strong social position and involvement in the events, nondifference. The importance of action strategy is not limited to theoretical issues, of course. This document identifies a program of practical measures necessary to reform our country.
It is based, first of all, on ensuring the national interests of Uzbekistan, and at the same time on an in-depth analysis of global democratic processes, and its ideas are fully consistent with the principles of universal development. This document has received a lot of attention in our country and abroad and studied with deep interest. I remember very well that during the conversation with the World Bank Vice President S. Mueller, who visited Uzbekistan at that time, mentioned that he carefully studied the Strategy of Action, noting that "this is a very strong, certainly historical document. It marks the beginning of a new era in Uzbekistan, which sets out a new outlook and updated approaches that will set a new dynamics in the country's
development. "
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In my opinion, the most important, conspicuous essence of the renewed policy is that it has abandoned programs based on lofty, airy slogans and has made its main and primary goal to promote human needs in the true sense of the word. This includes an objective view of the situation in the regions, the search for, finding the ways to solve and solving the problems that bother people without hiding. In the strategy of action, a completely new milestone has been reached in the most pressing problems of our time - the theory of development.
First of all, this is due to the fact that President Shavkat Mirziyoyev fully justifies the need for deep political reforms, improvement of public administration to radically modernize the economy. This in-depth analysis of the experience of European and Asian countries proves that rapid economic growth, a developed market economy, attracting foreign investment require the establishment and improvement of a modern political structure
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- the legal framework for development. It is no coincidence that the Strategy of Action begins with the parts devoted to the improvement of public administration and the judiciary, human rights. Today, the police officers who chased people for no reason are now becoming real human rights activists, public servants.
Representatives of the prosecutor's office are going door-to-door asking our compatriots what kind of help they need. When was that? As a result of the implementation of the strategy of action, a new generation of politicians is coming to power. They are mostly world-class, courageous individuals who have studied at some of the world's most prestigious universities. Transparency and accountability are becoming more and more characteristic of the activities of government agencies and formations at all levels. Civil society, which has been marginalized for years, is reviving. It was exactly at this time, during the pandemic, that a national protocol of social cooperation and anti-crisis measures was created.
The media is literally
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the voice of the people, becoming the fourth power, with about 300 private and departmental Internet publishers with a wide audience. The people now know our politicians, members of the government and parliament. Involvement and, as a result, responsibility arise in people. Reforms based on action strategies have created the ability to maneuver economically. Despite the problems in the world economy, during the years of new reforms, the economy of Uzbekistan has grown by 20%. In the context of the extremely severe pandemic, the state has taken comprehensive measures worth 82 trillion soums (about $ 8 billion) to mitigate and eliminate its consequences.
The bulk of the population has managed to maintain their sources of income and living standards. Leading financial institutions say that Uzbekistan, one of the few countries in the world, has not allowed the economy to slow down. Despite the quarantine restrictions, large-scale creative work continued consistently. For example, in 1985, in
the most mature period of the former Soviet state, 1 million square meters of accommodation were built in Tashkent. In the 90s, this figure fell to a minimum.
Last year, despite the pandemic restrictions, 4 million square meters of housing were built in the capital. For the first time in the history of the country, the existence of the problem of poverty was acknowledged, and it was noted that the poor are around 12-15 percent of the population. The Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction was established. A completely new system of targeted work with needy families, women and youth has been introduced in all districts and cities, in every neighborhood. During the pandemic, 527,000 people were employed through this
system.
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Significant new approaches in the field of foreign policy have been introduced, a real turning point has been made. Uzbekistan's foreign policy has acquired a completely new character and new meaning. A foreign policy that promotes genuine
national interests has emerged. It is based on the demonstration of an attitude to objective interstate conflicts and conflicts of natural interests, readiness for dialogue on existing problems, the pursuit of rational compromise with unconditional and firm support of national interests.
It was an expression of the country's new leadership's deep understanding of the situation in the region, a new approach to solving problems and a factor in strengthening the country's international reputation. After decades of almost complete absence of multilateral dialogue at the highest level, the practice of formal and informal contacts between Central Asian leaders has been restored. The recent clashes between the states of the region, which seemed inevitable, now seem like a ridiculous scenario.
Today, no multilateral regional event can take place without Afghan representatives. And today this country is perceived as an integral part of regional processes. At the initiative of President
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restoration of the Great Silk Road, which once passed through the territory of our countries and is the main transport artery of the whole planet,
in new conditions ...
Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the issue of a trans-Afghan railway connecting the region with seaports was raised. This opens up unprecedented opportunities in the implementation of strategic projects that increase the potential of Central Asia to participate in world economic relations.
It is noteworthy that the head of our state began his first foreign visits from neighboring countries. I remember that during a visit to Kazakhstan in early 2017, the leader of the neighboring country, a person of great international prestige and influence, Nursultan Nazarbayev, sincerely said to the President of Uzbekistan, «We have been waiting for the changes you started for 25 years.» If we briefly describe the foreign policy program of our President, it can be described as a strategy to open new roads.
It should be understood in a broad sense - barriers
to cooperation, trade, communication are being removed, and it is showing its effectiveness. The foreign policy part of the Action Strategy is a program to restore the Great Silk Road in modern conditions. The strategy aimed at increasing the attractiveness of routes passing through Uzbekistan is important, because transit potential is the most profitable commodity. The goal of this policy is not just economic efficiency in the narrow sense. In the words of our President: «it means the restoration of the Great Silk Road, which once passed through the territory of our countries and is the main transport artery of the whole planet, in new conditions ... to ensure peace and prosperity.» Speaking about the practical results of the action strategy, it should be noted that a new, completely different Uzbekistan has emerged at the international level.
The country's prestige and influence in the world have risen to an unprecedented level.
There are many examples of this. One of them is the establishment of the UN Trust Fund for the Aral Sea region on the basis of a multilateral partnership on human security. The implementation of this initiative, put forward by our President in 2017, in a short period of time has been a great achievement of Uzbek diplomacy. It is known that international loans are not given to everyone. Today, a program to attract soft loans and grants worth $ 3 billion is being implemented in our country. Of these, 700 million will be used to support businesses and banks, and 300 million to ensure the uninterrupted operation of public utilities infrastructure. The Asian Development
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In a few years we will see even brighter results of the Action Strategy than today.
Bank recently announced Strategy, significant work
that it will allocate $ 100 million to Uzbekistan for the modernization of the medical system and epidemiological services. Where would this money come from at a time when the economy is going through a difficult period because of the pandemic?
The foundations of a completely new foreign economic activity of Uzbekistan have been formed. Today, global and regional competition for investment is strong - if in the past investors struggled to enter markets, now countries are competing to attract capital. One of the first instructions given by the President during the development of the strategy was a critical analysis of the state of affairs in the field of attracting these investments. In recent years, as part of the implementation of the
has been done to develop foreign economic activity and create a legal and institutional framework for attracting foreign investment.
As a result of investment policy, significant positive changes are taking place in the economic system. The number of countries investing in Uzbekistan has exceeded 50. According to the UN, UNCTAD, the country has become the leading country in Central Asia in terms of investment growth. A few years ago, only a quarter of cotton fiber was processed in our country, but in the near future, all grown cotton will be processed in our country. This is leading to an increase in national income. If previously hard-earned cotton exports generated more than $ 1 billion in revenue, last year Uzbek finished textile products brought
in $ 2 billion. Uzbekistan has gained its sovereign rating and has become a full member of the world international financial market. The European Bank has issued the first loans in our national currency - this is a great achievement.
Action strategy is a practical action program. The renewed domestic and foreign policy of Uzbekistan has raised great hopes in our society. Despite the existing problems, this policy is supported by our compatriots and is highly valued internationally. At the same time, one thing must be understood: reforms, if they are real reforms, will never be easy. Human history teaches that deep reforms, especially in the early stages, always exacerbate problems, contradictions. Time for reforms is always scarce, they are always associated with danger. Being able to make change without compromising sustainability is the biggest challenge and the great art. We can say with confidence that the good results of today's far-sighted efforts will not be long in coming. In a few years we will see even brighter results of the Action Strategy than today.
