Uzbekistan, 25th anniversary | Page 6

Uzbekistan: steps, looking to the future by Vladimir Norov Ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan to Belgium, Luxemburg and Netherlands, Head of the Missions to the European Union and NATO 1 September 2016 marks 25 years since that memorable day when a new independent state - the Republic of Uzbekistan - had emerged on the political map of the world. Within a historically short period of time Uzbekistan has passed the way equal to centuries and today Uzbekistan is a modern, dynamically advancing state. The consistent implementation of so called “Uzbek model” of development under the leadership of President Islam Karimov, based on the five principles of the fundamental transformation of society, deep reforms in the economy and its liberalization and modernization, protecting human rights and freedoms, increasing the capacity and power of the country, the welfare of the people, had fundamentally changed the image of the country. Thanks to reforms, based on the principle «Don’t destroy the old house before constructing the new one», all branches of the economy were reformed without losses, there was achieved balanced development and set up the basis of the new society. During the years of independence, Uzbekistan has established a stable and dynamically developing political system, professional bicameral parliament, necessary organizational, legal and logistical conditions for the free and active participation of citizens and political parties in addressing the most important problems of socio-economic development. «The Concept of further deepening democratic reforms and formation of civil society» (adopted in November 2010) which was initiated by the President Islam Karimov has opened a new stage of the development of a state and society. 6 The concept involves extensive reforms the state governance, social and political reconstruction of the country, and their implementation would foster the achievement of the main targets in the public, nation-building and socio-economic development – to be a@mong the most developed democratic countries of the world and occupy a worthy place in the world. In a historically short time, the republic’s economy grew more than 5.5 times; real income per capita swelled nearly nine-fold; the $190 billion worth of investments in the national economy over this period has led to the creation of new sectors such as automobile building, petroleum, gas and chemical industries, oil and gas and railroad machinery building, production of modern construction materials, home appliances and pharmaceuticals among others. Tashkent The agricultural sector enjoys broad avenues for the development of the economic relations and farming movement and farming households currently not