TASHKENT, January 25. /“Dunyo” IA/. Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Republic of Uzbekistan Tim Torlot sat down with “Dunyo” IA to discuss the highlights of the Address of the President of Uzbekistan to Oliy Majlis.
“It was a remarkable speech as it set an ambitious agenda in a wide range of activities. I believe there was something in there for everyone.
I have extracted few important messages from the address. First of all, creation of jobs with the focus on entrepreneurship, including women and young people. Creating an environment where it is easy to do and develop business is crucial for Uzbekistan. Related to that was just how fundamentally important the education is. Specifically, in creating a future workforce, who are equipped to deal with modern world.
Empowering civil society was another major highlight of the speech. Shavkat Mirziyoyev is setting a very ambitious and strategic agenda. The government, civil society and other parties involved are helping to meet the long term goals. What is important is to stick to the long term vision, considering realistic time scale, while keeping in mind the ways of getting there.
In the United Kingdom, we use civil society extensively to understand the needs of ordinary people and communicate messages to them in a very targeted way. In turn, civil society helps the government to guide the policy.
To mirror UK’s experience, in a long term, I believe, the government of Uzbekistan and civil society should establish strong bounds free of fear of trust. Civil society should be holding the government to account the same way the President is asking the Parliament to be responsible.
However, you still need to create an environment in the country where civil society feel comfortable to express their problems. In this context, the President has expressed the necessity of building reciprocal trust. Growing media freedom in Uzbekistan is part of that trust. Continuous messages of the President urging people to be brave is also the proof. But the change won’t come easy, but it is the right path,” said Ambassador.
