UZBEKISTAN, December 20 - On 20 December 2022, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev addressed Oliy Majlis and the people of Uzbekistan.

The event, held at the International Congress Center in Tashkent, was attended by members of the Senate, deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, heads of state organizations, and public representatives.

The Address was broadcast in real-time by more than ten TV channels and was also covered online on the pages of the President on social networks.

Such an important event in the political life of the country has been held since 2017. The Address announces the main indicators of the outgoing year, goals, and objectives for the coming year. Therefore, people are always looking forward to this event with great interest.

As the Head of state emphasized, Uzbekistan is confidently entering a new stage of its development. Huge changes are taking place in all areas of our lives.

This year, the population of the country has exceeded 36 million, annually replenished with a new generation of nearly 900,000.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted that the end of 2022 was very difficult, we had to endure many trials. The experience gained during this period confirms one truth: only hard and selfless work leads to progress.

“I consider it appropriate to note the success achieved by the heroic work of our people, despite the pandemic, the deep economic and political crisis, and contradictions in the world”, the Head of state said.

As a result of large-scale and effective reforms, the country’s gross domestic product exceeded $80 billion for the first time.

This year alone, $8 billion of foreign direct investment was attracted to the economy, and the volume of exports reached $19 billion. The country has never had such high rates.

For the first time in history, this year the size of pensions and social benefits has been increased to a level no lower than the minimum consumer spending. So, if in 2017, 500 thousand low-income families received social assistance, today there are more than 2 million. The number of allocated funds increased 7 times and reached 11 trillion UZS per year.

“It’s easy to say. But behind every figure is the tireless work of people. Therefore, for us, the most important issue that is in the spotlight is ensuring the interests of a person, respect for his honor and dignity”, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said. – To this end, over the past six years, we have built about 300,000 apartments and individual houses in the country, which is 10 times more than in previous years.

All types of medical services have been brought to the most remote areas and mahallas to ensure the protection of public health.

Today Uzbekistan is becoming one of the centers of world politics, and this is widely recognized by the international community.

The country hosted the summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Organization of Turkic States, as well as dozens of high-level international conferences. All this also testifies to the growing international prestige of the country.

“It is necessary to change the management system, legislation, and our society to bring the development of the country to a new stage. If we do not do this, if we continue to ignore obvious problems, then we will fall behind in life and progress”, the Head of state said.

Therefore, the principle “First of all – the person, and then – society and the state” should be deeply established in the Constitution and laws, in our daily life. We need to further strengthen the foundations of national statehood, capable of effectively overcoming today’s serious trials and hard-to-foresee challenges and threats.

Taking this into account, work continues to improve the Basic Law. Our people are waiting for big changes from constitutional reform. A striking confirmation of this is more than 220 thousand proposals received to date.

Decisions are made based on the principle “Society is the initiator of reforms”, and all issues are resolved with our people.

It is necessary to develop a modern Constitution, imbued to ensure the interests of a person, and respect his honor and dignity as the highest value, such a Basic Law that will fully comply with the tasks of building New Uzbekistan and serving future generations.

All proposals and wishes expressed by citizens will certainly be taken into account, and the draft Constitution has been submitted to a nationwide referendum.

As always, the most exciting part of the Address was the announcement of the name of the coming year. As the Head of state noted, the opinions of citizens in each direction were deeply studied and about 20,000 proposals were considered to outline specific plans for the next year.

“Our people have raised vital issues related to education, healthcare, and the economy, and also proposed their systemic solutions. People expect us to build new schools, kindergartens, and hospitals, improve the quality of education and medicine, solve local problems related to drinking water and electricity, roads and transport, increase jobs, create new business opportunities, ensure justice, and eradicate red tape, bureaucracy, and corruption. The issues raised are clear and relevant. No matter how difficult it is, we are obliged to solve them”, the President said.

The Head of state proposed to name the coming new year 2023 in the country the Year of Human Care and Quality Education. The participants of the event actively supported this proposal of the President.

It was noted that when determining plans and programs for the next year, while strengthening the achievements of the period of independence, it is necessary to pay special attention to the development of the most important areas.

The Address defines important tasks for the transition to a system of compact and efficient public administration, reliable protection of human rights and freedoms, the introduction of free market mechanisms, ensuring healthy competition and the inviolability of private property, supporting entrepreneurship, improving conditions for increasing local and foreign private investment, priority areas of foreign and domestic policy.

In his Address, the President noted that it would not be easy to fulfill these tasks in the difficult conditions that are arising in the world today.

“But over the past period, we have accumulated great knowledge and experience. Most importantly, our confidence in our strengths and capabilities is growing.

No matter how difficult it is, we will never deviate from the chosen path and will achieve our goals.

A strong support for us in this is our hardworking people, living with pure thoughts and great aspirations. I am convinced that if we work together, unitedly, we will certainly fulfill the dream of our people, we will build New Uzbekistan”, the Head of state said.

In conclusion, the President sincerely congratulated the participants of the event, and all the people on the upcoming New Year, and wished them health, happiness, and prosperity.

Source: UzA