On December 14, 2022, from the rostrum of the most authoritative organization in the world – the UN General Assembly – the name of our state, Uzbekistan, once again proudly sounded.

Thus, another initiative put forward by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly in 2020 was implemented by the organization's member states.

In particular, the UN General Assembly unanimously approved the Resolution on enhancing the role of parliaments in accelerating the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

The resolution highlights the important role of parliaments in re-committing to unity, solidarity and multilateral cooperation to support an inclusive, sustainable and lasting recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to accelerate work for sustainable development while leaving no one behind, the need to promote full, equal and meaningful participation of women in legislatures and parliamentary processes.

The document was co-authored by 80 states from all continents of the world, including all Central Asian countries, as well as Austria, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Germany, Egypt, Spain, Indonesia, Italy, Colombia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Finland, France, Sweden, Japan, Qatar and others.

In general, if the UN strategy for achieving the SDGs was adopted in 2015 and its implementation began on January 1, 2016, already in 2016, work on achieving the SDGs was launched in Uzbekistan. An example of this is the five priority areas of the Action Strategy implemented over the past five years and its consistent continuation – the goals of the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026.

In particular, the Strategy for the Development of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2020–2030, adopted as part of the Action Strategy, is fully consistent with Goal 2 of the SDGs. To continue the consistent implementation of this goal, the Development Strategy provides for intensive growth in agriculture, at least a 2-fold increase in the income of dehkans and farmers, bringing the annual growth in agriculture to at least 5 percent.

In addition, ensuring high growth rates in the sectors of the economy, outlined in the 21st goal of the Development Strategy, increasing GDP per capita by 1.6 times in the next five years and per capita income by 2030 to more than 4 thousand dollars, creating the basis for Uzbekistan to enter the category of “states with an upper middle income” are fully consistent with goals 1 and 10 of the SDGs.

Along with this, in October 2018, the Government of Uzbekistan approved the National Goals and Objectives for sustainable development for the period up to 2030. Based on the UN SDGs, Uzbekistan has developed 16 SDGs, 125 targets and 206 indicators corresponding to them.

At the same time, it should be noted that another important indicator of the strategies implemented in Uzbekistan that are in line with the SDGs is the strengthening of the role of parliaments in accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Thus, in both our strategies, special attention is paid to reviewing the existing mechanisms of parliamentary control in terms of their effectiveness, ensuring the participation of citizens in this process.

In particular, this strategy and government programs are monitored in the order of parliamentary hearings, government hours. Thus, in 2017-2021, parliamentary hearings were organized 97 times, parliamentary hours were organized more than 30 times. Most importantly, this practice has been introduced at the grassroots level, the Councils have established constant control over the implementation of regional programs at places.

At the same time, a Parliamentary Commission has been established to take control over the implementation of national goals and objectives for sustainable development of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the period up to 2030.

Summing up, we can say that this resolution will undoubtedly serve as a kind of guide to action for the parliaments of all countries.

Makhfirat KHUSHVAKTOVA,

Deputy of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis.

UzA