Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 15 December 2020, a meeting of the Committee on Defense and Security of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis was held in the form of video conference. It was attended by members of the Senate, chairmen of standing committees of local Kengashes, experts and representatives of the media.

The meeting preliminarily discussed the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2021" and the execution of the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for nine months of 2020, the consideration of which is scheduled within the next plenary session of the Senate. In addition, the information of the chairman of the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the defense industry was heard.

First, the meeting discussed the Law "On the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2021" and the Budget Message.

Relevant information from representatives of the Ministry of Finance was heard. During the discussion, it was criticized that the Law did not disclose the reasons for empowering the Cabinet of Ministers to mitigate the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the global crisis on the economy, allocate budget funds, design facilities from the republican budget and transfer funds to the distributor of budget funds.

The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2021" stipulates the formation of appropriate reserve funds of the local budget. However, today, as the country moves from centralized financial management to local financial management, members of the Committee commented on the reduction of local budget reserves and the increase in rental rates established for individuals who provide real estate for rent.

In addition, the issue of execution of the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for nine months of 2020 was also considered.

The emphasis was placed on the issues that the norm of the Law, aimed at providing open and transparent information for the population in the execution of the State budget, is not fully observed, almost 55% of ministries and departments do not place information on budget execution on their websites, incomplete a procedure has been introduced for the allocation of at least 10% of additional sources of local budgets to finance public events; expenditures on medicines allocated from local budgets differ sharply by region.

In addition, the Law "On the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2020" includes a number of provisions aimed at increasing the efficiency of the use of budgetary funds by all participants in the budgetary process, and thus, in accordance with the Law, it is determined that data are posted on websites on a quarterly basis.

However, in practice, ministries and departments, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regional and Tashkent city, district and city khokimiyats have not yet provided the placement of relevant information on their official websites based on the requirements of the Law on the State Budget for 2020.

At the same time, the members of the Senate made proposals and recommendations on the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2021" and the Budget Message, execution of the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for nine months of 2020.

The meeting heard the information of the Chairman of the State Committee for the Defense Industry on the state of work carried out by the Committee on topical issues of the development of the country’s Armed Forces and ensuring military security.

The State Committee for the Defense Industry was created on the basis of the "Road Map" approved by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan on 18 February 2020, which envisages the implementation of a total of 43 events.

In particular, as part of measures to introduce digital technologies into the production system, attention has been paid to highlighting the activities of the Defense Industry Complex, attracting foreign and local investments in the production process, and increasing the export potential of the sector.

Thanks to the measures taken, a decrease in production costs is noted.

At the meeting, the senators noted that there are a number of problems in the development of the Complex for the defense industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

In particular, they criticized the fact that at present, the enterprises of the Complex for the defense industry are not attracted to investments, new modern technologies are not being mastered, and the cost of production is not competitive in the domestic and foreign markets, which has a negative impact on the export potential of enterprises.

In addition, the meeting discussed issues that are planned to be considered at the next tenth plenary session of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis.

Following the meeting of the Committee, appropriate decisions were made.