Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- At the thirty-seventh plenary session of the Senate, the results of the Senate’s activity in 2022 was considered.

It was noted that last year the Senate acted in line with its powers defined by the Constitution and laws, as well as priorities reflected in the Strategy of New Uzbekistan in 2022-2026.

Thus, a number of activities were undertaken to improve legislative activities, enhance parliamentary oversight, expand international and inter-parliamentary relations, promote activities of local councils, and increase the influence of parliament in achieving effective dialogue with the people.

In particular, 79 laws were reviewed in terms of legislation. Laws were discussed from a critical and analytical point of view, based on the interests of the territories. The Senate rejected eight laws in 2022.

The practice of systematic analysis of laws and the development of proposals for their improvement has continued, and relevant tasks have been assigned to the Government following monitoring of the implementation of more than 20 laws, law enforcement practice and the adoption of by-laws.

As part of parliamentary oversight, the Senate held 27 hearings in plenary session on reports and information from the heads of the Government, ministries, departments and organizations, and khokims.

The quarterly reports of the Government and the Minister of Finance on the implementation of the State program and the execution of the State budget were discussed.

Senators paid special attention to socio-economic development of the regions, studying the issues which caused reasonable objections from the population. As a result of the study about one thousand issues have been submitted to the Government for solution. On the basis of these proposals, over 1.2 trillion soums have been allocated within the parameters of the State Budget and investment programmes for 2023.

Within the framework of control and analytical activities, the Senate Committees have conducted 67 territorial studies and adopted relevant decisions.

Five parliamentary enquiries have been sent to members of the Government. Senators sent more than 200 enquiries to relevant ministries, departments and heads of organizations on current socio-economic issues on the ground, the problems of concern to the population.

A total of 17,100 appeals from individuals and legal entities were examined. Approximately 6,500 appeals were placed under special scrutiny and examined in detail. 

In particular, explanations were given to the authors of about 5,000 communications, and questions in more than 700 applications and complaints were considered substantiated and resolved positively.

Within the framework of international parliamentary relations, more than 170 meetings with representatives of foreign states, international organizations, international financial structures and businesses were held to discuss the prospects of cooperation.

More than 10 meetings of inter-parliamentary groups were held to develop bilateral parliamentary relations and cooperation.

Regular training courses and seminars for deputies of local councils have been organized with the Academy of Public Administration and other responsible bodies in order to provide methodological and practical assistance to local councils.

In addition, under the leadership of the President of the Senate, the work of the national (Republican) structures has continued consistently in a number of topical areas, such as combating corruption, trafficking in persons and forced labour, women’s issues, promoting gender equality and working with international ratings.

As a result of the reforms carried out in the above areas, Uzbekistan has risen in the 16 prestigious international rankings that have been identified as a priority for our country.

Thanks to its work against forced labour, the Cotton Campaign, an international coalition, lifted an international boycott of Uzbek cotton that had been in place for 13 years (2009-2022).

The meeting, after reviewing the Senate’s performance, also identified the upper house’s priorities for 2023.