Tashkent hosted an online conference on “Finland – Uzbekistan: Development of education in achieving the sustainable development goals”.

The event was organized to create a platform for interaction between companies of Finland and Uzbekistan, find suitable partners for organizations and companies providing educational services and create the necessary conditions for the implementation of new ideas of cooperation.

Representatives of over 100 different organizations and companies of the two countries took part in an event organized jointly with the Inspectorate for Education, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan and Finland, the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland, the educational program, the National Education Agency, the Finnpartnership program and the Honorary Consulate of Uzbekistan.

Head of the Inspectorate for Education Ulugbek Tashkenbayev dwelt on the work being implemented and plans for the future.

– Work on the study and implementation in our country of the best practices of the Finnish education system, outlined in the resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On additional measures to further improve the education and upbringing system”, began in November 2020, and large-scale continuous and systematic work was carried out over the year. In particular, an agreement was reached on financing the education of 9th-grade graduates of Navoi region for three years at the expense of the Finnish side. The joint curriculum was organized in cooperation with Tashkent State University of Economics and the Turku University of Applied Sciences of Finland. Furthermore, in cooperation with the University, the Uzbek-Finnish Pedagogical Institute was established at Samarkand State University which pursues the goal of training competitive personnel for the educational sphere of the pedagogical direction, improving the quality of education, introducing advanced educational technologies of Finland in this area.

The Chief of Education at UNICEF Uzbekistan, Deepa Sankar, emphasizing the importance of projects for which cooperation is planned, said that UNICEF will support ongoing projects to achieve sustainable development goals.

Companies of Finland that want to implement cooperation projects with Uzbekistan made their presentations at the conference.

Krista Keranen, Director of Vision Factory Finland, said that company representatives wishing to participate in projects can enter the platform and get detailed information about each organization, as well as leave their suggestions on which organization to cooperate within which direction and establish contacts.

Birgit Nevala, Programme Director at Finnpartnership, noted that the representatives of Finland are ready to support the educational organizations of Uzbekistan, adding that this event will serve as a start for new projects.

Finnpartnership is a business partnership program funded by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by Finnfund, which provides the necessary financial, communication and advisory services for Finnish companies to assess business opportunities in developing countries. At the same time, it provides funds for international cooperation projects launched by Finnish companies.

Fayzullo Yakhyoyev, UzA