The priority directions highlighted in this manifesto are based on the principles of strict conformity with the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, devotion to national interests, protecting and strengthening the independence of Uzbekistan, preserving and reinforcing the country’s development, peace, social stability and friendly environment between citizens and nations.

The country has progressed in reforming and modernizing its economy, social sector, political infrastructure and enriching cultural heritage.

Achieving these and some other social objectives is the key message of our manifesto. The priority directions of the manifesto are the following:

The first priority direction is to continue social reforms, to enhance the system of protecting vulnerable, badly off stratum of the population. This objective has been marked as the main task in setting up and implementing the principles of social justice and unity. Every citizen, who lives in our country and requires social assistance, should always feel the government’s care and support of those around him.

Strong social assistance requires maintaining a solid economic basis; further development of the market economy should support social initiatives to provide more jobs.

One of the practical directions of this work is to gradually resolve social rehabilitation issues of the disabled. This socially vulnerable group is not comprised of only those who require social assistance. Most of the disabled have limited ability to work. At the same time, they intend to increase the level of their education and obtain socially useful professions based on their abilities. Presently, the necessary legislative framework has been created to provide social support to the disabled, protect their interests and satisfy their needs.

Laws supporting socially vulnerable groups should be practically implemented with the support of local governments.

In this regard, we advocate prompt adoption of the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On administrative procedures" which envisages the consideration and resolving of issues concerning the interests of ordinary citizens by the authorities. We believe it is necessary to continue efforts on further improving the legal regulation of social rehabilitation issues of socially vulnerable, badly off groups and the disabled.

Social assistance should not be a government prerogative; civil organizations and economically strong members of society are to be involved in social activities.

The second priority direction envisages increasing the efficiency of reforms in the housing and public utilities sector, primarily, in the social infrastructure and services sector in urban and rural areas.

A special attention is given to improving the quality of public utilities. The results of inspections carried out in the localities indicate that these services often do not fully comply with the latest standards. Increasing the responsibility of public utilities providers is of prior importance. In particular, it is essential to increase economic responsibility of the public utilities providers to the consumers, who make full and timely payments for the services rendered, to ensure that the contractual obligations are duly fulfilled.

Considering the above, it is proposed to draft and adopt a law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the principles of regulating tariffs in the public utilities sector". This law will be designed to optimize relations between the providers of public utilities and consumers in accordance with the principles of social justice.

The third priority direction calls for strengthening cooperation between government agencies, local governments and some other social institutions in developing the system of civil education, increasing the level of political and legal awareness of the people.

The fourth priority direction envisages issues of maintaining ecological balance and environmental protection. We support the efforts aimed at ensuring proper utilization of natural resources, such as land, water and minerals in our country.

Environment-friendly technologies should be introduced in the production, a number of relevant laws need to be adopted.

We believe that the implementation of the aforementioned priorities will serve to increase the level of social justice in the society, enhance the government and public system of providing targeted support to socially vulnerable groups. In its turn, this will assist in implementing a strategic task of gradually increasing the population’s welfare at the current stage of reforming and modernizing the country.

Source: BBC Monitoring Central Asia