Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 1 February 2022, a meeting of the Senate Committee of the Oliy Majlis on budget and economic reforms was held.

It was attended by members of the Senate and the Commission, heads of relevant ministries and departments, as well as media workers.

Issues that are considered at the next plenary session of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis were preliminarily discussed at the meeting.

In particular, the Law “On amendments and additions to certain legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the further strengthening of guarantees of the rights of citizens and business entities” was considered. 

As noted, the Law introduces amendments and additions to the Labor, Civil and Tax Codes, as well as to the laws “On State Pensions for Citizens”, “On the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan”.

In particular, it was noted that the Law “On State Pension Provision of Citizens” provides for the inclusion in the seniority of no more than six years, along with the time spent on parental leave (previously it was 3 years).

According to Article 565 of the Civil Code, when renting motor vehicles through an electronic online auction through an electronic trading platform, notarization of rental agreements is not required. A rule is introduced that the protocol drawn up based on the results of an electronic online auction has the force of a lease agreement.

The meeting also discussed the work on the development and liberalization of the economy, carried out in the country in the priority areas of the State Program "Year of Support for Youth and Promotion of Public Health".

In particular, thanks to the timely measures taken to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the socio-economic situation in the republic, in 2021 the gross domestic product grew by 7.4% compared to the previous year. At the same time, in the structure of GDP, industry grew by 8.7%, construction work - by 6.8%, agriculture - by 4.0%, retail trade turnover - by 12.0%.

State budget revenues were executed by 164.7 trillion soums, of which 127.9 trillion soums (77.6%) came from tax revenues, 33.2 trillion soums (20.2%) - from customs payments.

In order to finance the proposals made by citizens, 30% of additional sources of income for districts and cities and 5% of the expenditures of 14 district (city) budgets (1 from each region), a total of 407.1 billion soums were allocated for the implementation of almost 1,600 projects.

During the meeting, the information of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh. Ganiev on the introduction of water-saving technologies in agriculture and the efficiency of the use of funds allocated for these purposes was preliminary considered.

In pursuance of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated July 10, 2020, in 2021, water-saving technologies were introduced on a total area of 515.2 thousand hectares. In particular, a drip irrigation system has been introduced on 197.5 thousand hectares. It was noted that the total area of land on which water-saving technologies have been introduced has been increased to 917.0 thousand hectares, or 20% of irrigated areas.

In order to produce raw cotton through the widespread introduction of water-saving technologies, 754.4 billion soums were disbursed in January-September 2021.

During the discussion, it was noted that there are a number of problems and shortcomings in the procedures for the effective use of subsidized funds allocated from the State budget, water resources and water-saving technologies for growing crops, drilling wells for the construction of new vineyards and introducing drip irrigation technologies.

In addition, although water-saving technologies have been introduced in the cultivation of crops, in some cases there have been cases of land irrigation in the traditional way, inefficient use of water. These shortcomings were noted mainly in Jizzakh, Ferghana and Khorezm regions.

It was also emphasized that due to the irresponsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Water Resources and territorial and district working groups when introducing water-saving technologies, often the design documentation of the implemented water-saving technologies does not meet the technical requirements, and construction and installation work is performed poorly.

As a result of the meeting on the discussed issues, the appropriate decision of the Committee was adopted.