Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Undoubtedly, the Address of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the parliament has become one of the main political events of the outgoing year. The head of state, addressing the parliament, and in his person and the people of Uzbekistan, in fact, presented to the public a report of the supreme power on the work carried out during the year to implement the strategic development goals of the country, and also identified the most important tasks, key priorities for further reform and modernization of Uzbekistan for the coming period.

At the same time, the main message, which ran like a red thread in the President’s message, is that democratic reforms have acquired an irreversible, stable character and the state intentionally and steadily continues to implement them.

In general, the practice of addressing the Head of State with a message to the parliament of Uzbekistan, which has become a tradition in the country’s political life with the election of Shavkat Mirziyoyev as President, is the embodiment of the key principle of democracy - the accountability of the supreme power to the people.

It can be said without exaggeration that the current message was the result of a broad dialogue with the people, it is comprehensive, covers all spheres and problems of the life of society and the state, which today are of concern to the general population and require their first-priority solution.

This again testified to the firm commitment of Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the principle of open dialogue with the people, his readiness to listen and hear the problems and proposals of each citizen on further steps of the democratic transformation of the country.

Moreover, the tasks set in the message for the coming period indicate the unchanging will of the Head of State to deepen and expand the dialogue with the people, to take into account in every possible way the aspirations, needs and interests of broad strata of the population in the decision-making process, the desire to fully use public resources to achieve the strategic goals of reform and modernization of the country.

This is, in particular, the specific proposals of the President of Uzbekistan on strengthening the role of democratic institutions, first of all, self-government bodies of citizens, NGOs, the media and the public in solving urgent problems of socio-economic, socio-political, cultural and humanitarian development of the country.

I would like to cite some of them. First, Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed expanding the forms and improving the existing mechanisms of public control, strengthening the role of civil society institutions, the media, citizens in monitoring and organizing the implementation of legislative acts and state development programs of the country. To this end, the task was set to introduce on a systematic basis such institutions of public control as public monitoring and public hearings.

Secondly, in order to improve the status of citizens’ self-government bodies, enhance their participation in solving pressing problems, it was proposed to appoint heads of state bodies, including heads of local government bodies, from among the proactive and qualified personnel who carry out effective activities in citizens’ self-government bodies.

Moreover, strengthening the powers of citizens’ self-government bodies in exercising public control at the local level, increasing the responsibility of officials for solving urgent problems of territorial development will serve to provide the heads of citizens’ self-government bodies with the right to apply to local representative authorities with requests for consideration on topical issues of local development.

The role of citizens’ self-government bodies in ensuring employment and employment of the population is growing. In particular, more than a thousand vocational training centers are being created in makhallas, 100 billion soums are allocated to support their activities.

For the rational and efficient use of external debt, it is envisaged to introduce mechanisms for public discussion of projects for the socio-economic development of regions and territories, carried out at the expense of external borrowing.

Thirdly, it is planned to widely involve NGOs on the basis of providing a social order in the implementation of public control in such socially significant areas as education, culture, health care, ecology, construction, utilities, and transport. More than 60 billion soums are allocated from the state budget for these purposes.

Fourth, the institution of a permanent representative of NGOs in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis is being introduced with the right to participate in meetings of the lower house of parliament. At the same time, the representative of the NGO is empowered to make proposals for the inclusion of effective mechanisms of public control and social partnership into legislative acts.

Fifth, the Commissioner of the Oliy Majlis for Human Rights is empowered with the right, with the involvement of representatives of the public, NGOs, the media and other civil society institutions, to conduct quarterly monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty, including pre-trial detention centers, in order to prevent and suppress the facts of cruel treatment of prisoners. that is, torture.

Moreover, the right of the punishment enforcement bodies to make a proposal on early release from serving a sentence and replacing punishment with a softer one is transferred to a special commission, which will include representatives of the public.

In general, the proposed measures are a logical continuation of the policy of democratization of public and state administration, they will certainly contribute to further ensuring the openness and effectiveness of the activities of state authorities, increasing their accountability and responsibility to the people, as well as strengthening the creative participation of citizens in the implementation of a large-scale program of reforming and modernizing the country.

First deputy director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Akramjon Nematov