Mirziyoyev Conducts Open Dialogue with Uzbekistan's Youth

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Today, on Youth Day, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is conducting a dialogue with the country's youth, warmly congratulating all young people across the nation on the holiday.

"From the first days of implementing reforms, we have defined supporting youth and creating conditions for the realization of their dreams and aspirations as one of the most important priorities of state policy," the President stated.

A corps of youth leaders has been formed in all mahallas across the country to support the initiatives of young men and women and assist them in implementing their projects.

To raise the younger generation in the spirit of devotion to national values, love for the Motherland, respect for elders, and high moral ideals, the rich life experience of the older generation is being widely utilized.

In Uzbekistan, every Thursday has been declared Youth Day, mobilizing all ministries and departments to study the problems of young people and find effective ways to solve them.

The President emphasized that the system of working with youth has fundamentally changed due to the measures implemented.

In particular, through the "Youth Notebook" system, the problems of 1.5 million young people experiencing difficulties with receiving an education, mastering a profession, learning foreign languages, finding employment, and starting their own businesses have been resolved.

Through the implementation of special programs, the formation of a favorable business environment, and the provision of preferential resources, the number of young entrepreneurs increased fivefold and exceeded 287,000 people.

Creating favorable conditions for opening training centers allowed the number of young people intensively studying foreign languages to increase to 3.5 million.

Talented school and university students won 434 medals at prestigious international subject olympiads, while young athletes won 2,245 medals at international competitions.

By assigning law enforcement officers and local government representatives to troubled teenagers, the youth crime rate decreased 2.5 times over the past two years.

"However, this does not mean at all that all problems related to youth have already been solved," the head of state emphasized.

The President noted that departments responsible for youth policy, ministers, governors, university rectors, and technical school and school directors must continuously work to study the problems, needs, and interests of young people and promptly resolve emerging issues.

"Know that today, states no longer compete by the size of their territory, but by the level of knowledge; not by population size, but by technologies; not by natural resources, but by human capital. A new 'knowledge economy,' based on knowledge, science, and intellectual potential, is becoming the decisive force. I know that each of our young men and women possesses huge potential, talent, and abilities. You are the worthy heirs of our great ancestors, whose outstanding discoveries made a huge contribution to the development of world civilization and made them symbols of the First and Second Renaissances. But being an heir is not only a matter of pride, it is also a huge responsibility! Just as our ancestors achieved great deeds for the sake of human progress, it is you who must become the force that creates the foundation of a new era of revival—the Third Renaissance in New Uzbekistan," the President stated.

"Today, we are all pleased that the ranks of young people who, with their knowledge, talent, initiative, and selfless work, make a worthy contribution to the development of New Uzbekistan, are becoming wider," the head of state noted.

On the eve, the President signed a decree and a resolution to award a group of such young people the "Kelajak Bunyodkori" medal and the "Mard Uglon" state prize. Today, these high awards were solemnly presented to their recipients.

"On behalf of all our people, I once more congratulate the laureates of today's state awards. May this high recognition inspire you to conquer new heights! May your ranks become even more numerous!" the President said.

The head of state also spoke on the performance of the national football team of Uzbekistan at the World Cup.

"Together with all our people, we followed the matches of the national team on the fields of the USA and Mexico with great excitement. The games against the national teams of Portugal, which holds 5th place in the FIFA rankings, Colombia, located in the 13th position, as well as the Congo national team, which includes many players from leading European clubs, became invaluable experience for our team and allowed them to feel the atmosphere of the world championship. Abbos Fayzullaev and Eldor Shomurodov scored their first goals at the World Cup, bringing joy to all our people. Today, various evaluations are being heard regarding the performance of our national team at the World Cup. However, making emotional demands of our football players who defended the honor of the Motherland or looking for someone to blame is not in the traditions of our people. On the contrary, right now it is especially important to support the team and lift its fighting spirit," the President emphasized.

The President noted that the main victories of the national team are still ahead. For this, even broader conditions will be created for the development of football and investments in this sphere will be increased. First of all, special attention will be paid to children's football, which must become a nationwide movement.

Preparation for the AFC Asian Cup, which will take place next January in Saudi Arabia, will begin now.

"We believe in our national team and will support it with the whole nation at this tournament as well!" the President stated.

"The success formula of today and the solid foundation for tomorrow's development rely on three crucial components. These are knowledge, profession, and technology! My goal is to create conditions so that every young man and every young woman receives such opportunities and finds a worthy place in life," the President stated.

In this regard, the "Knowledge of the Future" ecosystem will be launched, which will annually allow 500,000 young people to obtain modern, in-demand professions.

Today, there are more and more young people in the regions ready to open training centers and teach youth professions and foreign languages. To implement such initiatives, land plots and state properties will be put up for auctions at preferential prices.

Young entrepreneurs will be able to pay their cost in installments over a five-year period without interest charges. If necessary, the state will ensure the creation of the required engineering infrastructure.

In addition, when building and equipping training centers, the state will compensate 7 percentage points of the loan interest rate.

If youth training centers attract advanced foreign educational programs and foreign teachers, the state is ready to cover half of the corresponding expenses.

For young people who already have a profession and seek to acquire new skills in accordance with international standards, a "professional voucher" mechanism will be introduced. It will be provided in the form of an interest-free loan, allowing 50,000 young people annually to pay for training in modern professions.

Another 85,000 unemployed young people from needy families will be able to undergo professional training for free in private educational centers through special vouchers.

In the current year alone, 120 billion soums will be allocated to finance the system of "professional vouchers" and free vouchers. If there is high demand, the volume of financing will be increased.

The President noted that the current system of compensating expenses for young people who successfully obtained international certificates in foreign languages has fully justified itself, and proposed extending this practice to holders of international professional certificates as well.

The participation of the private sector in the activities of technical schools, which are one of the key links in the professional education system for youth, will be substantially expanded.

For this purpose, licensing requirements for opening private technical schools will be simplified—more than 20 mandatory conditions will be canceled. Starting from the new academic year, state grants for professional training will be provided to private technical schools as well.

Another new measure will be monetary rewards for winners of international professional skill competitions: students of state and private technical schools will receive 100 million soums, and the mentors who prepared them will receive 50 million soums.

Today, the number of young people fluent in foreign languages has exceeded 650,000 people.

"If we teach them to create content in foreign languages about our great history and rich cultural heritage, they will be able to make a significant contribution to promoting the tourism potential of our country and simultaneously receive a high income," the President emphasized.

With this aim, the "Digital Content" platform will be launched, with plans to allocate 20 billion soums annually for its financing.

Currently, more than 150,000 young citizens of Uzbekistan are studying and engaging in scientific activities abroad. To more effectively use their potential in developing the country's tourism and exports, a system will be created that allows them to simultaneously receive additional income.

Students will be able to analyze demand in the markets, goods, and services in the countries of their study, transfer this information to domestic producers, organize stands demonstrating the potential of Uzbekistan, and present tourism routes and products of local producers. To implement these initiatives, they will be granted funds.

The President announced a new measure to support the employment of university graduates: for employers hiring young specialists, the personal income tax rate and social tax rate regarding such employees will be set at 1% for a duration of one year. This measure will become a substantial incentive for entrepreneurs employing about 200,000 graduates of higher educational institutions.

Currently, there are about 1 million young people in the country who are not included in the social register but belong to vulnerable categories: those left without parental care, those who returned after completing military service, labor migration, or serving a sentence, as well as persons with disabilities. According to the President, with the provision of necessary support, they will be able to find their place in life.

For this category of youth, the "Guaranteed First Step" package of measures will be introduced.

Within its framework, students who help unorganized youth prepare for admission to higher educational institutions under the "Mentor — Student" program will receive additional points when applying for master's programs and a priority right to receive state scholarships.

The President also noted that thousands of young entrepreneurs who have created their own brands are working today in the fields of trade, services, and production. He urged them to help their unorganized peers master the basics of entrepreneurship, work according to their own brand model, and receive a stable income.

For this purpose, the "Youth Mini-Franchise" program will be launched.

Its participants will be provided with land plots and preferential loans to expand their businesses.

In addition, young people purchasing franchises of domestic brands will be able to receive interest-free loans of up to 300 million soums from the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund.

To finance these programs, 500 billion soums will be directed.

Many programs and services for professional training, studying foreign languages, employment, and entrepreneurship development are already active for youth. To make them accessible on a "single window" principle, Youth Hubs will be created in the country. The project implementation will begin in Surkhandarya Region, after which this experience will be phased into other regions.

Currently, out of 87,000 civil servants, 16,500 are young people under the age of 30. Of these, 902 people already occupy leadership positions.

"We have a lot of talented youth. Ministers and governors should not be afraid to trust young people and appoint them to responsible positions," the President emphasized.

For these purposes, the "TOP-100" program will be implemented across five directions, aimed at identifying young leaders.

Within the framework of the program, open competitions will be announced for the youth of Uzbekistan and compatriots living abroad in the following directions: the new economy, information technologies and artificial intelligence, education, healthcare, and agriculture.

The competition will be conducted once every two years. Its one hundred winners will receive monetary prizes of 50 million soums each, and will also be appointed to leadership positions.

In addition, each ministry and sectoral department will launch its own "TOP-100 Talented Young Specialists" program in its field of activity and will send its participants for internships in relevant international organizations.

The President instructed responsible departments to approve and ensure the implementation of a plan providing for the annual sending of 2,000 young people for internships in international organizations.

The "Youth League of Uzbekistan" platform will be launched. Young people will be able to independently enter information about their achievements into it. This data will be analyzed by relevant ministries, after which rating points will be awarded to participants.

Young people who gain the highest number of points will be able to count on state educational grants, discounts on tuition fees, receiving a "professional voucher," and compensation for expenses on studying abroad.

In addition, extra opportunities in the entrepreneurship sphere will be created for them—receiving preferential loans and participating in acceleration programs. They will also be provided with opportunities for completing foreign internships at their place of work, inclusion in the civil service personnel reserve, and obtaining a preferential mortgage.

Based on the results of each year, young people who achieved the highest results will be solemnly awarded.

"In general, the 'Youth League of Uzbekistan' must become a nationwide movement uniting school students, technical school students, students of domestic and foreign universities, young scientists, young specialists working in the state and private sectors, as well as the children of our compatriots living abroad around the idea of building New Uzbekistan," the President stated.

Today, more than 14,000 young citizens of Uzbekistan are studying at leading universities in the USA, Europe, Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea.

Conditions will be created for them allowing them to undergo practical training and internships in ministries, municipalities, state institutions, and private companies of Uzbekistan during their holidays.

For this purpose, a digital platform will be launched within a month, which will ensure direct interaction between employers and students studying abroad.

In addition, at the expense of the "El-Yurt Umidi" Foundation, about 700 young people are sent annually to study at the world's leading universities.

"At the initial stage of our reforms, we sent talented youth to study abroad predominantly on the condition of subsequent work in state organizations. However, today the demand for such specialists is rapidly growing in the private sector as well. Therefore, now our young people will be able to study at prestigious foreign universities through the 'El-Yurt Umidi' Foundation also by order of the private sector," the President noted.

"The main force ensuring population employment and high rates of economic growth in our country is entrepreneurs. And as long as there are educated, initiative-taking young people among them, no one and never will be able to stop the development of our country," the President stated.

As was noted, today the number of young entrepreneurs with an annual turnover exceeding 500 billion soums has reached 15 people, those with a turnover of more than 100 billion soums is 194 people, and those who crossed the threshold of 50 billion soums is 68 people.

To support youth on the path to successful entrepreneurship, a new system will be introduced.

The Banking and Finance Academy will become the national center of competence for the development of youth entrepreneurship. From now on, its students will travel to the regions, meet with young people and entrepreneurs, and develop ready-made business projects.

The Youth Entrepreneurship Fund will offer young people such projects together with ready-made business plans on preferential terms.

In addition, the fund will be able to invest up to 5 billion soums in the most promising youth projects capable of bringing a high income and creating a large number of new jobs.

The best projects will be accepted as master's theses of the academy's students.

The authors of such projects will become primary candidates for the positions of regional bank heads and deputy governors for economic issues.

It is expected that the introduction of this system will open opportunities for starting their own business for at least 300,000 young people.

"We have set a goal for ourselves to increase the country's economy volume to more than 240 billion US dollars by 2030. To achieve this goal, innovative startups capable of bringing new ideas to all sectors of the economy are necessary," the head of state stated.

Over the past nine years, the domestic startup ecosystem grew 15 times, exceeding 4 billion US dollars. The number of venture funds reached 23, and their total capital is 200 million US dollars. During this period, more than 1,200 promising startup projects were created, and over 3,000 young people are already receiving a high income working in this sphere.

As was noted, the successes of Uzbekistan received recognition on the international level as well. In the Global Startup Index, the country rose 31 positions at once and was recognized as the state with the fastest-growing startup ecosystem in the world, receiving the status of "Country of the Year 2026."

At the same time, the President emphasized that the potential of this direction is far from exhausted.

In this regard, every minister, industry head, and governor will launch the project "1,000 Problems — 1,000 Solutions from Youth."

Within the framework of the initiative, heads will post the most pressing problems of their departments and industries on an open digital platform, announcing a reward for the best solutions.

To implement the project, each minister and governor will form a venture fund with a volume of at least 10 billion soums.

The funds of these chess pools will be directed both at rewarding the winners of the competition and at financing the 20 best startups—from the idea stage to practical implementation.

In addition, the Youth Affairs Agency will select the 100 best projects in the spheres of business, information technologies, and the creative economy, investing up to 1 billion soums in each of them.

In the Digital Government Center, the first supercomputer cluster has been put into operation. Next year, its computing capacities are planned to be increased three times.

In the current year alone, artificial intelligence laboratories will be created in 20 higher educational institutions.

Young people will be able to use the supercomputer and these laboratories for free to develop solutions based on artificial intelligence aimed at solving sectoral and regional tasks.

Over recent years, modern IT parks were opened in Tashkent, Nukus, Karshi, Termez, Urgench, and Ferghana. Last week, another major project started in New Namangan.

In addition, the construction of major IT parks with a total area of 100,000 square meters begins in Andijan, Samarkand, Jizzakh, Bukhara, Gulistan, Chirchik, Nurafshan, and Navoi.

Thanks to the realization of these projects, more than 20,000 highly paid jobs will be created for youth.

The "My First Computer" program is also being launched.

For 10,000 young people from needy families, half of the laptop cost will be compensated from the Digital Technologies Fund, and an interest-free loan with the possibility of repayment in installments over three years will be provided for the remaining amount.

From now on, third-year students of higher educational institutions training specialists in the fields of information technologies and artificial intelligence will be able to continue their studies in IT parks under the dual education system, combining the educational process with practical activity.

For talented students studying in these directions, the Muhammad al-Khwarizmi State Scholarship is being established.

In addition, for gifted girls studying in the directions of engineering, information technologies, and artificial intelligence, a special scholarship "Girl Engineers" will be established.

Starting from the new academic year, these scholarships will be assigned not only to students of state but also private higher educational institutions.

Currently, winners of prestigious international olympiads in chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, and informatics receive a monetary prize of 1 billion soums, and the mentors who prepared them receive 200 million soums.

Now, an identical incentive system will be extended to winners of international olympiads in artificial intelligence, as well as their teachers.

Two years ago, the "Heirs of al-Khwarizmi" project was launched in Khorezm Region, within the framework of which more than 4,000 gifted school students received the opportunity to study foreign languages and information technologies.

The President instructed to implement this project in all district centers of regions and in all districts of the Republic of Karakalpakstan starting from the current year, and in subsequent years—to extend it to all districts and cities of the country, covering a total of 50,000 young people.

"We talk a lot about the need to form a national identity among youth, to raise love for the Motherland and respect for their people. This is indeed an extremely urgent task. It must be frankly admitted that today youth spend the main part of their time in the digital space," the President emphasized.

As an example, he noted that last year alone, the export volume of computer and mobile games amounted to 84 million US dollars.

In this regard, responsible departments are instructed to create incubation centers for computer and mobile game developers in all 15 IT parks and to introduce a new support system for creating games based on national values and historical heritage.

In addition, the state will annually place a state order for the development of at least 20 computer and mobile games with a national theme.

"We must make sure that not a single young man and not a single young woman remains aside from the opportunities that the state creates for youth," the President stated.

The President instructed the Youth Affairs Agency and the National Social Protection Agency to conduct the competition "Love for the Motherland — Social Initiatives" in the current year already, within the framework of which volunteers who proposed the best solutions to social problems of the population, as well as the authors of the 50 best social projects, will be recognized.

The National Social Protection Agency, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Preschool and School Education, and the Youth Affairs Agency, will launch the "Kanot" ("Wing") project aimed at supporting children and teenagers belonging to social risk groups.

The project provides for involving such children in the system of social services, education, sports, music, and art, which will contribute to the prevention of repeated offenses and their successful social adaptation.

During the "Marathon of Youth Initiatives" held in June, young people presented thousands of project proposals in the spheres of science, culture, business, startups, and artificial intelligence.

The President instructed the Youth Affairs Agency to create an "Office of Initiatives," which will engage in supporting youth ideas at all stages—from conception to the creation of a finished product or service.

To implement this initiative, 50 billion soums will be allocated.

The President noted that today crimes related to the illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances represent a serious threat to the nation's gene pool. Of particular concern is the fact that about a third of such crimes are committed by young people.

In this regard, the fight against drug addiction and drug crime in Uzbekistan acquires the character of a nationwide movement, for the implementation of which all necessary forces and means are being mobilized.

Recently, a law was adopted substantially toughening responsibility for crimes of this category.

"We will never allow this evil to take root among our youth, and will not stop until we eradicate it completely. Drug addiction deprives a person of the most valuable things—health, willpower, mind, dreams, and life goals. Remember: life is given to a person only once. Be implacable to this evil and dedicate every minute of your life to constructive and good deeds," the President addressed the youth.

The head of state also addressed parents, emphasizing that it is the family that lays the foundation for the formation of a child's personality, their growing up, and future life successes.

The President urged parents to pay even more attention to raising children and to treat this responsibility with maximum seriousness in the conditions of a rapidly changing and extremely complex modern world.

"My dear young men and women! I am always inspired by your energy, striving for knowledge, and readiness to discover new things. I want to ask you for only one thing: boldly go toward the highest goals, study, master new knowledge, modern professions, and advanced technologies, do not be afraid of difficulties, and do not avoid honest work! Remember: behind your back stand parents who raised you with great hopes, teachers and mentors who gave you knowledge, upbringing, and a profession. And next to you there is always your President, who will be your support, believes in you, and consistently supports you! May your path be open, your aspirations high, and your spirit strong!" the President stated, concluding the meeting with youth.

Following the speech, the head of state conversed with the young people, listening to their proposals, initiatives, and opinions.