Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- As previously reported, a delegation of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan is in The Hague (Netherlands) to participate in the World Justice Forum 2022.

On 1 June, Minister of Justice Ruslanbek Davletov, along with leaders of civil society institutions, business and the justice sector, spoke at the plenary session “Identifying What Works” (“Determining what works effectively”).

Revealing the achievements of the republic, the minister noted that since 2016, structural reforms have been implemented, including democratic transformations to ensure the rule of law and the well-being of the population based on the principle of "Good Governance".

— The prerequisites for the reforms were the real demands of the population and the active discussion of pressing problems in society, the readiness and ability of state and public institutions to carry out structural changes, the political will and commitment of the country’s leadership to fundamental transformations. This is what formed the so-called "triangle of success" of reforms in Uzbekistan, - said R. Davletov.

The minister spoke about successful approaches and key elements that made it possible to achieve significant changes in the field of social and state building in Uzbekistan.

First, the state openly acknowledged the problems and provided free access to government data. The principle of the presumption of openness has been introduced. Thus, last year the List of socially significant information to be placed as open data by all government agencies was approved. It includes 200 different pieces of information in 33 areas. Currently, 13.5 thousand data sets have already been placed in the public domain.

Secondly, administrative courts were created five years ago, which are a key element of the system of checks and balances. In 2021, administrative courts considered 15 thousand disputes arising from public relations, 52 percent of them were satisfied. In addition, during this period, more than 2.5 thousand decisions of khokims were declared invalid.

Thirdly, decisive reforms have been launched to combat corruption in Uzbekistan, including through the introduction of a sectoral approach. Thus, the result of changing the system of licensing and issuing permits for doing business was the abolition of 70 out of 266 types of licenses, 35 out of 140 permits. All licensing procedures have been digitized. During the year, the electronic system provided about 30,000 licenses.

“Over the past three years, using the “regulatory guillotine” method, we have managed to optimize the current legal framework by almost 10 percent,” said the Minister of Justice. — More than three thousand acts of legislation have been repealed. Another example is the allocation of land plots only through a system of electronic auctions, which excludes interference in the procedures for determining the winner. Since last year, 4,300 land plots have been allocated based on this approach.

Fourth, the regulatory burden has been reduced and business processes in public administration have been optimized through end-to-end digitalization.

- By the end of 2021, the number of digital public services will be increased to 200, which is 30 percent of the public services provided, in the near future this figure will reach 70 percent. We proceed from the premise that citizens should not waste their time and other resources on interaction with the state. Digitization involves getting rid of bureaucracy. For example, canceling the request of government agencies for only 18 types of certificates saves about $15 million annually and frees more than 12 million citizens from bureaucratic delays,” the Minister of Justice emphasized.

In conclusion, Davletov noted that no country can develop without an idea and ideology that unites people. We need ideals that society aspires to, an idea that can be transformed into values.

“We must follow principles such as accountability, fair laws, open government, an accessible and impartial judiciary with strong convictions,” the minister said.