Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 15 July 2020, the presentation of the first Voluntary National Review (VNR) of Uzbekistan on progress in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was held at the High-Level Political Forum under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The presentation was held via videoconferencing with the participation of UN member states that have made commitments to the SDGs.

The Voluntary National Review (VNR) is the process by which countries assess and present progress made towards the global Sustainable Development Goals and the Leave No One Commitment.

In his welcoming speech to the participants of the Political Forum, Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan Tanzila Narbaeva emphasized Uzbekistan’s strong commitment to the implementation of the Global Agenda 2030 and the promotion of large-scale reforms that are fully consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals.

The First Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Director of the National Center for Human Rights Akmal Saidov, who answered questions from the participants of the Political Forum.

The presentation of the Voluntary National Review of Uzbekistan was made by a representative of the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction, during which the achievements of Uzbekistan in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the tasks and challenges facing the country in this area were presented.

Separately, it was noted that the implementation of the SDGs in Uzbekistan coincided with large-scale reforms within the framework of the Action Strategy in five priority areas of development of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2017-2021.

The Strategy for Action and its five priority areas have been identified as being consistent with the global SDGs.

Work is underway to integrate the National SDGs into national, sectoral and regional development strategies and programs, including the elaborated Concept of Integrated Socio-Economic Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Poverty Reduction Strategy until 2030.

During the presentation, it was noted that the government monitors the effectiveness of reforms through 23 global ratings (indices), including the global SDG rating, according to which Uzbekistan today ranks 52nd among 162 states.

Among the achievements of Uzbekistan on the national Sustainable Development Goals, the following were mentioned:

- the share of the poor population decreased from 12.8% in 2015 to 11.4% in 2018;

- growth in the coverage of children with preschool education increased from 27.7% in 2017 to 52% in 2019;

- according to the rule of law index compiled by the international organization World Justice Project, in 2020, Uzbekistan took 92nd place among 128 countries. The country has risen four positions in a year;

- Gender-oriented laws of the republic have been adopted, such as “On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for men and women” and “On the protection of women from oppression and violence”;

- the share of women has reached 33% in leadership positions and 45% in the total working-age population;

- access to electricity in rural areas increased from 74% to 78%, to natural gas - from 62 to 67%, to drinking water from 62.6% to 64.1%;

- Uzbekistan has improved its position in the global ranking for doing business "Doing business" from 141 places in 2015 to 76 in 2019, and in 2020 - 69;

- the country has risen from 100 place in 2014 to 81 in 2018 (out of 193 countries) in the UN e-government index;

- an increase in the average annual rate of gross investment for 2017-2018. reached 12.0%.

All participants in the Political Forum were united in the opinion that the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to slow down the progress of all countries in achieving the SDGs.

In order to mitigate the consequences of the crisis, the Government of Uzbekistan announced a number of major anti-crisis measures, including financial, economic and regulatory measures to support business entities, the most vulnerable segments of the population and employees of social institutions. An anti-crisis fund has been created in the amount of US$1 billion.

It was also noted that Uzbekistan faces the following strategic goals and objectives:

- further reduction of poverty and inequality (SDG 1 and 10);

- improving the quality and equal access to social services, in particular in the field of health (SDG 3) and education (SDG 4), with a focus on remote regions and vulnerable groups of the population;

- ensuring sustainable employment, especially among youth and women (SDG 5 and 8);

- achieving more rational use of water (SDG 6), energy (SDG 7), land (SDG 2 and 15) and other natural resources (SDG 11, 12, 13) for more sustainable socio-economic development and adaptation to climate change;

- further strengthening the rule of law, freedom of speech and press, increasing transparency and quality of public services, reducing corruption (SDG 16) and ensuring greater gender equality (SDG 5) according to the principle “Leave no one behind”.

As a result of the presentation, an active discussion of the implementation of the SDGs took place and the Uzbek delegation gave detailed explanations and answers to questions from the participating countries