Samarkand

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Uzbekistan’s permanent representative to UNESCO, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, launched "Uzbekistan 2020" - a charity fund dedicated to developing cultural, intellectual and human exchanges between Western Europe and Uzbekistan.

"Uzbekistan 2020" was inaugurated on 8 April 2009, during a gala dinner with many eminent personalities, at Paris’ Museum of Modern Art: amongst them, Former First Lady Mrs. Bernadette Chirac and Professor Khayat. These personalities took part in an auction which benefited to the Claude Pompidou Foundation.

Mrs Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva’s charity fund will initiate and undertake actions within three key areas: humanitarian aid focused on children and education, culture and tourism in Uzbekistan, with the objective of making it one of the main destinations in Central Asia before 2020.

In the line of Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva’s commitment to orphans and top-level Uzbek sportsmen, the charity fund will support various associations helping disadvantaged children. As educational issues are also part of "Uzbekistan 2020"’s preoccupations, the fund intends to favour exchanges of knowledge, by organizing cross-visit programmes for Uzbek and European teachers and researchers.

In the field of culture, the charity fund’s long-term goal is to bridge the gap between Central Asian and Western European cultures, by promoting mutual understanding. "Uzbekistan 2020" will foster various events (exhibitions, concerts, tasting, conferences...) aiming at making foreign people discover Uzbekistan’s cultural wealth.

As far as tourism is concerned, "Uzbekistan 2020" will support initiatives to promote the country, which remains unknown in Europe. Various projects aiming at protecting Uzbekistan’s cultural inheritance and natural wealth (vegetation sorting, painting and monument restoration...) are already being considered.

Created by Uzbekistan’s permanent delegate to UNESCO, Mrs Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, "Uzbekistan 2020" is a charity fund dedicated to promoting cultural, intellectual and human exchanges between Uzbekistan and Europe. In this perspective, it intends to initiate and support actions within three main areas: humanitarian aid focused on children and education, culture and tourism in Uzbekistan, with the objective of making it one of the main destinations in Central Asia before 2020. The charity fund already grants support to projects in the fields of children protection, education and sport.

Lola Karimova-Tillyavea is Uzbekistan’s permanent representative to UNESCO. Born in 1978, she earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in International law from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent, and later received a Doctorate degree in Psychology from Tashkent State University of Economy. Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva is renowned in her home country for playing a major role in promoting the centuries-long heritage of Central Asia in Europe and launching key nationwide reforms to improve the situation in orphanages across the country.