presentation about uzbekistan pdf

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Uzbekistan: An Overview

Related Papers

Franco Pianzola

Mirzokhid Rakhimov

As modern history of development of the Republic of Uzbekistan shows that situation formed in the late 80-ies and early 90-ies of XX century was extremely critically evaluated by various international experts and specialists. Uzbekistan took one of the last places among the former Soviet republics according to all main economic and social indicators. It lagged twice in average union index according to national income per capita of the republic. Agriculture dominated in economy of the country this period. Its share took over third of gross domestic product while share of industry in which there also dominated industries oriented to agriculture was only about 14%. In this intense political and economic situation in world arena which was typical for geopolitical intrigue Uzbekistan first had to protect itself from chain reaction effect and secondly form almost a new civil society, new socially oriented economy and also declared new domestic and foreign policy.

Otabek Alimardonov

This article describes the reasons for the division of the territory of Uzbekistan into economic zones and the consequences of these reasons. And also in this article the example of the 20-70s of the XX century is given. The study of the processes of development of society in the modern history of Uzbekistan makes it possible to clearly identify a number of important contradictions that legally led to a crisis. These contradictions are based on the discrepancy between the level of development of productive forces and the nature of existing production relations, which has deepened over time. During the formation and development of a single economic complex of the Soviet Union, the real interests, special conditions and opportunities of Uzbekistan were ignored in Soviet times, when the policy of the Soviet government was a very centralized and commandoriented, monopoly system of the Communist Party.

Adeeb Khalid , Ali Igmen

Timur Dadabaev

Sevket Hylton Akyildiz

Article published in Twentieth Century Communism-A Journal of International History: Local Communisms Issue 5, June 2013, Lawrence & Wishart.

SWP Research Paper 12, 2020

Andrea Schmitz

Marlene Laruelle

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In this module, we present a long-term history of the territory that is Uzbekistan today. Much of what we cover is general Central Asian history and does not conform to the modern boundaries of today’s Uzbekistan, which were established in 1991. Nonetheless, this quick glance at the county’s deep past shows how closely connected this region was with major world historical processes, such as the spread of world religions across the Silk Road, the blossoming of medieval Islamic science and the development of early modern trade.

Accordingly, the module divides this complicated history into three parts. Similar to how Western civilization history courses are usually divided into the antiquity of the Greeks and Romans, a medieval period and a modern period, we have divided Uzbekistan’s past into three major periods as well. In the first selection, we cover the ancient period with a focus on non-Western religions and cross-cultural interaction along the Silk Roads . During this period, the land that is Uzbekistan today was called Sogdiana, named after the famous Sogdian merchants . In the second part, we will learn about the Islamic history of the land that is today Uzbekistan. During this period, the region was called Mā warā’ an-nahr , an Arabic word meaning “the land beyond [the Oxus] river.” Although this term was first used by Islamic historians, it was also used by local writers as well. Earlier this region was called Transoxiana, “beyond the Oxus river,” by the Greeks, which has a similar meaning to Mā warā’ an-nahr . In this section, we focus on cultural and intellectual achievements. In the third section, we focus on the integration of Mā warā’ an-nahr into processes of early-modern globalization as we move towards the Uzbekistan of today.

The three sections each emphasize different themes and can be used separately or together. In addition to the three historical sections, resources pertaining to the modern history of Uzbekistan and current events are listed at the bottom of this page after the further reading and resources section.

Part One: Antiquity: Silk Roads and World Religions 

Part two: islamic culture in the medieval period , part three: globalization and modernity, list of key terms.

Amu Darya River — one of Central Asia’s main rivers, originating in the high mountains of Tajikistan, it runs along the border between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, through northeastern Turkmenistan and then along the border between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and eventually flowing into the deltas leading to the Aral Sea to the north of Nukus in the Karakalpakstan province.

Syr Darya River — Central Asia’s second major river, originating in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and eastern Uzbekistan, it flows west and then northwest, crossing through southern Kazakhstan, eventually reaching the northern part of the Aral sea.

Sogdiana — also called Sogdia, originally a province of the Achaemenid empire (559-334 BCE), the homeland of the Sogdian merchants. Although scholars are still debating exactly how they would have referred to themselves, the word Sogdian comes from the Avestan sugda or the Old Persian suguda.

Sogdian merchants — the original Silk Road traders and key cultural intermediaries, connecting many different cultural zones in Eurasia during antiquity.

Mā warā’ an-nahr — “the land beyond [the Oxus] river” in Arabic, roughly the land between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya rivers, sometimes called Transoxiana, which is Latin for “the land beyond the Oxus River.” The Oxus is what the Greeks called the Amu Darya River.  For a map see Part Two: Islamic Culture in the Medieval Period .

Khan — sometimes spelled qaghan, or khaqan, the leader of a confederation of mobile pastoralist tribes in Central Eurasia.

Khanate — the Central Asian equivalent of a kingdom, except with a Khan as its highest ruler.

Nisba — an additional name indicating a tribe, area, or profession to which an individual belonged usually ending in ī.  For example, al-Bīrūnī, the famous scientist, was from the bīrūn (a region kind of like a pre-modern suburb) of Kath.

Sufi (sufism) — a form of mystical Islam, which became popular in Central Asia starting in the eleventh century CE.

Syncretism — when two religions coexist within the same community, or when two religions fuse together into a new hybrid religion. Examples of syncretism in this module include Chistian-shamanism, shamanistic Islam and the convergence of Buddhism with Near Eastern religions in Manichaeism.

Turkic — as an ethnic group, this word means descendent from the first Türk empire in Mongolia (553-682 CE); as a linguistic term it means belonging to the Turkic languages, which include modern Turkish, Uzbek and many other languages from across Eurasia, for more on language see the Language (Til) section.

Mobile pastoralism — sometimes called “nomadic pastoralism” or “nomadism,” refers to economies that are dominated by products produced by pasture or grasslands, such as horses, sheep, camels, or other animals, as well as trans-regional trade. Although the mobile pastoralist economy is often diverse and sometimes includes aspects of agricultural production, mobile pastoralist societies are characterized by a high-level of mobility.

The Silk Roads — a complex network of trade routes stretching across Eurasia connecting Europe, China, the Middle East and India.

Suggested Learning Activities

Map game (1-2 class periods).

Fill in this blank map with the four most important features of Central Asian/Uzbek history. Features can include cities, rivers, mountains, archaeological monuments, or other locations. This activity can be paired with the Nature (Tabiat) section of this module. Let the students decide which ones are the most important and have them reflect on their choices.

Religions on the Silk Road (1-2 class periods)

  Divide the students into seven different groups and assign each group one of the following religions:

• Zoroastrianism
• Nestorian Christianity
• Manichaeism

Have each group work together to form a short group report answering the following three questions:

• Where does this religion come from and how did it get to Central Asia/Uzbekistan?
• Where are its main beliefs?
• What role did it play in Central Asian/Uzbek history?

Students can use the texts on the religions given above as well as their own internet explorations. ( Instructors : keep in mind that not all information on the internet is true or reliable). When each group is ready, have them present what they have learned to the whole class.

Picture/Object Game

Put any of the pictures in this module in front of your students and have them guess about what they think it could be and what it could mean. Have them imagine that they are anthropologists, and they need to reconstruct the society that created the image/object. Slowly work through their assumptions and guesses directing then towards a full contextualization of the object or image. After entertaining some of their ideas and possibilities explain in detail what the object, building or painting is and what it tells us about the past.

Further Reading and Resources

General surveys.

• For an overview of Central Asian history see History of the Civilizations of Central Asia, an open-source multi-volume book written by a team of historians from across the globe, published by UNESCO (bottom of the page): https://en.unesco.org/themes/generalregionalhistories#centralasia
• The brief summary of the history of religions given in Part One above follows Richard Foltz’s Religions of the Silk Roads: Premodern Patterns of Globalization, for a longer version of this story see Volume 3 (chapters 17-19) of the UNESCO History linked above.
• Svat Soucek, A History of Inner Asia  (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
• Scott C. Levi and Ron Sela, Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources , (Indiana University Press, 2009).

Historical Architecture

• https://theculturetrip.com/asia/uzbekistan/articles/exploring-the-architectural-treasures-of-samarkand/
• https://www.orientalarchitecture.com/cid/225/uzbekistan/bukhara

Historical Pictures

• https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!/search?geolocation=Bukhara
• https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!/search?geolocation=Uzbekistan&perPage=20&searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&offset=0&pageSize=0

Murals from Afrosiob

• http://contents.nahf.or.kr/goguryeo/afrosiab/english.html

More about Afrosiob

• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343560705_Virtual_and_Interactive_Museum_of_Archeological_Artifacts_from_Afrasiyab_-_an_Ancient_City_on_the_Silk_Road

Ancient History

• Rozwadowski, Symbols through Time: Interpreting the Rock Art of Central Asia (Poznań: Institute of Eastern Studies, University of Adam Mickiewicz, 2004).
• Rozvadowski and M. M. Kośko (eds.,) Spirits and Stones: Shamanism and Rock Art in Central Asia and Siberia ( Poznań: Instytut Wschodni UAM, 2002).
• A Sogdian Buddhist manuscript: http://www.orientalstudies.ru/eng/images/pdf/a_livshits_1996.pdf
• A list of Buddhist sites in Central Asia: http://www.orientarch.uni-halle.de/ca/bud/litera.htm
• Janos Harmatta, “Religions in the Kushan Empire,” in History of the Civilizations of Central Asia, vol. 2 Paris: UNESCO, 1994.
• A website about the role of Sogdian merchants as trans-cultural communicators: https://sogdians.si.edu/believers-proselytizers-translators/
• A resource for Silk Road maps: http://www.orgs.miamioh.edu/silkroad/maps/maps.html
• Website on the Sogdian letters: https://sogdians.si.edu/ancient-letters/
• A study of Silk Road food: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0045137
• A study of historical food in Uzbekistan: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0201409
• An article about archaeology in Uzbekistan: https://source.wustl.edu/2017/07/target-excavating-leads-lost-city/
• Follow this link for a lecture about Turkic and Steppe history in the 6th and 7th centuries and its connections with Byzantium and China by Professor Preiser-Kapeller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRbKVecxzn0

Medieval History

• Gohlman, William E., (trans.,) The Life of Ibn Sina: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation . Albany: State University of New York Press: 1974.
• Dilfuza Djamalinovna Buranova, “The Value of Avicenna’s Heritage in Development of Modern Integrative Medicine in Uzbekistan” , Integrative Medicine Research 4, no. 4 (December 2015): 220-224.
• Nicholas Seay, “ Ibn Sina as Corona Meme: The Internet Afterlife of a 1950s Soviet Film ” Ajam Media Collective published online April 16, 2020.
• A movie about Ibn Sina: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_physician_2014
• An image of the Uyghur script Qutadgu Bilig poem written during the Qarakhanid period: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/QutadughuBiliq_wien_p.10.jpg
• A BBC discussion of al-Biruni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYedbOuATng
• A list of al-Biruni’s works with online links: http://www.jphogendijk.nl/biruni.html
• Frederick Starr, Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age From the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane  (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013).
• A blog post about Ulug Beg: http://riowang.blogspot.com/2013/03/astrolabes-astronomers-observatories.html
• A short article about Ulug beg’s legacy: http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/paksoy-2/cam6.html
• A comparison between Ptolemy and Ulug Beg: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2012/08/aa19596-12.pdf
• Timur era art: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/timu/hd_timu.htm
• About Babur’s life: https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/babur/babur1.html
• Many primary sources for Central Asian history are written in a language usually called Chaghatay. It is quite similar to modern Turkic languages, especially Uzbek and Uyghur [a Turkic language spoken by at least twelve million people in China’s Xinjiang province]. A textbook for learning this language by Eric Schluessel is now available in paperback: Eric Schluessel, An Introduction to Chaghatay: A Graded Textbook for Reading Central Asian Sources (Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing Services, 2018).

Uzbekistan Today!

After working through this module you may be wondering about what is going in Uzbekistan today. Although we didn’t cover much about the modern history of Uzbekistan, here are some useful resources and links that cover contemporary history and current events:

• Adeeb Khalid, Making Uzbekistan: Nation, Empire, and Revolution in the Early USSR  (Cornell University Press, 2015).
•   Marianne Kamp, The New Woman in Uzbekistan: Islam, Modernity, and Unveiling under Communism  (University of Washington Press, 2008).
• Abdullah Qodiriy,  Bygone Days: O’tkan Kunlar  (Bowker, 2019), translated by Mark Reese .
• Abdülhamid Sulaymon o’g’li Cho’lpon,  Night and Day: A Novel  (Academic Studies Press, 2019), translated by Christopher Fort .
•   A website covering current affairs in Uzbekistan and across Central Asia: https://voicesoncentralasia.org

  Websites for News About Uzbekistan

• https://kun.uz/en
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/uzbekistan
• https://eurasianet.org/region/uzbekistan
• https://tashkenttimes.uz
• https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/clm1wxp5pzwt/uzbekistan
• https://www.aljazeera.com/where/uzbekistan/
• https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/uzbekistan
• https://www.euronews.com/news/asia/uzbekistan
• http://www.uzdaily.uz/en
• A recently established resource about Central Asia and Uzbekistan: https://oxussociety.org/publications/channels/
• The Central Eurasian Studies Society holds yearly conferences and is a good resource for Central Asia related topics: https://www.centraleurasia.org
• The Silk Roads are still important for Uzbekistan today in terms of business, tourism, and even geopolitics. Follow this link for a story map of the Silk Roads by National Geographic that includes coverage of the “New Silk Road”: https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2018/silk-road/index.html
• The Majlis podcast provides news coverage related to Uzbekistan and the other Central Asian states: https://www.rferl.org/z/19887
• An interview with Mark Reese: https://newbooksnetwork.com/abdullah-qodiriy-bygone-days-bowker-2019
• An interview with Christopher Fort: https://newbooksnetwork.com/abdulhamid-sulaymon-ogli-cholpon-night-and-day-a-novel-academic-studies-press-2019
•   An article about Uzbekistan’s melon exporting economy: https://central.asia-news.com/en_GB/articles/cnmi_ca/features/2017/11/13/feature-01
•   An article about retail in Uzbekistan: https://www.eurasianinvestor.com/analysis-articles/2019/9/12/retail-revolution-comes-to-uzbekistan
• An article about economic changes during the Covid-19 pandemic in Uzbekistan: https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-uzbekistan-retail/as-pandemic-empties-traditional-uzbek-bazaars-supermarkets-step-in-idUKKBN22C1SU
• A 2019 assessment of Uzbekistan’s economy: http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/866501562572675697/pdf/Uzbekistan-Toward-a-New-Economy-Country-Economic-Update.pdf
• An assessment of economic modernization: https://isdp.eu/publication/economic-modernization-uzbekistan/
• An article about produce in Uzbekistan: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2017/11/14/loans-helping-uzbek-farmers-sell-more-of-the-best-fruits-and-vegetables-in-the-world
• An article about the Uzbek writer Abdullah Qodiriy: https://voicesoncentralasia.org/the-uzbek-modernist-abdullah-qodiriy-a-writer-and-his-novel/
• An article about changes in the media in Uzbekistan: https://thediplomat.com/2020/04/uzbekistans-changing-media-space/
• A review of Tashkent’s subway: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/travel/tashkent-uzbekistan-subway.html

The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the United Nations

New Uzbekistan – A New Model of Foreign Policy

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On 29 December 2020, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev addressed the Oliy Majlis and the people of Uzbekistan. In his Address, the Head of the state-defined further goals and set the most important tasks aimed at ensuring a consistent increase in the level of welfare and wellbeing of the country's population.

In his Address, the President mainly focused on the issues of conducting an effective foreign policy capable of providing the necessary conditions for the implementation of a large-scale program of reforming and modernizing all spheres of life of society and the state.

For this purpose, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted the need for improving the foreign policy strategy of the country and adopting an updated concept of activities in this area. At the same time, the importance of ensuring the consistency of Uzbekistan's open, proactive and constructive foreign policy was emphasized.

The demand for conceptualizing foreign policy is due to the high dynamics of transformation of Uzbekistan, the transition to a new stage in the formation of a democratic rule of law with a developed market economy. Without exaggeration it is worth noting that the foundation of a new era of the Renaissance is being laid in the country, requiring qualitatively new approaches in foreign policy.

In these conditions, the adoption of this Concept of Foreign Policy is intended to accelerate the consistent formation of a favorable external environment for the sustainable internal development of the country, the effective promotion of national interests in the international arena and the progressive increase of the competitiveness of the country's economy in the world market.

In this regard, today the primary tasks are the consolidation and mobilization of all internal and external resources for the unconditional achievement of national development goals. The formation of a new version of the foreign policy concept also indicates the country's adherence to the previously chosen foreign policy course, thanks to which Uzbekistan has achieved significant success.

In general, a systematic analysis of the basic principles and characteristic features of the modern foreign policy strategy of Uzbekistan demonstrates a deep thoughtfulness of its foreign policy, which today could serve as an exemplary model for many countries, especially in conditions when international relations are experiencing a crisis of trust, a lack of dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation.

These distinctive features of the new external course of the country, the leading role in the construction of which belongs to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, include the following basic principles.

First, a characteristic feature of the modern foreign policy of Uzbekistan is pragmatism in building relationships with all traditional partners, as well as the countries near and far abroad.

In this context, Uzbekistan proceeds from the tasks of internal development. Among them are maintaining high growth rates, modernizing and sustainable development of the economy, raising the standard of living of the population and ensuring full integration into the structure of world economic relations.

Achieving these goals is impossible without accompanying the launched large-scale internal reforms with an appropriate regional strategy, establishing close relations with closest neighbors, coordinating plans within international organizations such as the UN, SCO, CIS, Turkic Council, WTO, EAEU, EBRD and other structures.

In a word, Uzbekistan's foreign policy interests are based primarily on the priorities of internal development, which actually means an obvious shift towards the economization of the country's international cooperation and the strengthening of economic pragmatism in external relations.

Thanks to the active use of this approach, the efficiency of work on attracting foreign investment and new technologies, expanding the tourist flow, as well as increasing the export of national products to world markets has significantly increased.

In particular, one of the drivers of economic growth in recent years has been a sharp increase in investment activity. Over the past 4 years, the average annual investment growth rate was 22 percent. The total volume of attracted foreign investments reached $26.6 billion, including direct investments of $17.5 billion. For comparison, such a volume of investments was attracted to the country's economy between 2007 and 2017.

In general, the total volume of investments over the past 4 years has grown by more than 2.1 times, including foreign investments by 2.7 times. The share of investment in GDP in 2019 exceeded 38 percent for the first time, which creates a solid foundation for ensuring economic growth in the coming years.

At the same time, the GDP of Uzbekistan in 2019 grew by 5.6 percent. Despite the difficult conditions that have arisen due to the consequences of the pandemic, the World Bank experts predict the country's GDP growth in 2021 by 4.8 percent, which is one of the best indicators among developing countries.

Thus, Uzbekistan's foreign trade turnover is growing much faster than GDP and in 2019 increased by 26.2 percent, amounting to $42.2 billion. While in just 9 months of 2020, despite the pandemic, the country's foreign trade reached $27.5 billion.

Uzbekistan's plans to strengthen its role in the establishment of international transport corridors and joint implementation of other infrastructure projects with foreign partners also received a new impetus.

For instance, the wide involvement of Uzbekistan in the implementation of the Trans-Afghan corridor and joining various international transport corridors («North-South», «Trans-Caspian corridor», «China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan») create favorable prerequisites not only for the country's exit from the state of transport isolation but also for increasing its importance as a transport and transit hub and providing access to promising markets.

The implementation of these plans will also contribute to strengthening the role of the country in the process of drawing up a new transport map of the world and strengthening its position in the emerging modern model of global supply chains.

Second, Uzbekistan today constantly promotes the principle of multilateralism in the country's foreign policy. Uzbekistan stands for the development of creative processes of globalization, the establishment of mutually beneficial and equal international cooperation based on dialogue, mutual trust and respect for each other's interests.

This dictates the transboundary nature of modern challenges and threats. Among them, the epidemiological crisis and its socio-economic consequences, terrorism, cross-border crime, the food crisis, the fight against poverty and the problem of global climate change remain relevant, which can only be countered by joint efforts.

Recognizing this, Uzbekistan today is active in shaping not only a regional but also a global agenda, building collective mechanisms to counter various challenges and threats that directly affect the security, prosperity and sustainable development of the international community.

Clear evidence of this is the productive participation of the President of Uzbekistan in international platforms. So, during the first outbreak of the pandemic, the President of Uzbekistan, speaking at an emergency meeting of the Turkic Council, was one of the first leaders of the world countries to call on the international community to cohesion in the face of a common threat.

This approach also becomes evident in the increasing role of the country in international lawmaking – in the initiation and adoption of conceptual multilateral documents aimed at resolving urgent problems at the center of the global agenda.

In particular, since 2016, at the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, four resolutions have been adopted within the framework of the UN, designed to improve the foundations and mechanisms of international cooperation in tourism, regional interaction, interfaith understanding and sustainable development.

Special attention also deserves the important initiatives put forward by the Head of the state during the meeting of the 75th UN General Assembly, which became a solid contribution of the country to the development of mutually beneficial international cooperation.

Among them are proposals for the development of an International Code on voluntary commitments of world states during pandemics and the adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution on enhancing the role of parliaments in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring human rights.

In this context, the plans to hold several international events in Uzbekistan, voiced by the President of the country during the Address to the Oliy Majlis, are another indicator of strengthening the role of the country in the international arena. One of them is a global forum under the auspices of the United Nations on "Human Rights Education"; an international conference on youth rights; regional conference on freedom of conscience.

Finally, Uzbekistan's strong commitment to multilateralism is evidenced by the President's statement during his Address to the Oliy Majlis about the country's readiness to further develop a constructive cooperation with all international organizations, including the UN.

Third, the country relies on proactivity in foreign policy and distances itself from the role of a passive observer of the ongoing processes in the region and the world. This is confirmed by the fact that by now Uzbekistan has become a member of more than 100 different international organizations and a party to more than 200 international multilateral treaties.

In this context, particular attention is drawn to the activation of Uzbekistan within the framework of the SCO, the adoption of the chairmanship in the CIS and entry as a permanent member to the Turkic Council.

The growing initiative of the country on these platforms, the mutually beneficial nature of the proposals put forward and their focus on solving problems that meet collective interests also speaks of the intensification of Uzbekistan's foreign policy activities.

In particular, in 2017-2020, the Uzbek side at the SCO summits put forward more than 30 initiatives, and during this period, 36 proposals were initiated within the CIS.

In recent years, the participation of Uzbekistan within the framework of the UN has also acquired intensive dynamics. A significant event in this regard was the country's election for the first time in its history as a member of the UN Human Rights Council.

At the same time, the country began an active dialogue on joining the World Trade Organization to gain its worthy place in the world trade system, corresponding to our resource and economic capabilities and human potential.

Another notable event in this regard is the receipt by Uzbekistan of the observer status in the EAEU, which opens up new opportunities for the country in achieving the goals of progressive economic development.

Negotiations are nearing completion on an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the European Union, which will help create more favorable conditions for mutual trade and soften the foreign trade regime.

In this context, it should be noted that the goals outlined by the President of Uzbekistan during the Address to the Oliy Majlis on the development of individual programs and interaction strategies with the main external partners can fill the country's international cooperation with new concrete content.

Fourth, an important distinguishing feature of the newly introduced strategy is openness, one might say, the democratization of foreign policy. Dialogue with the people, which has been declared a key principle of the activities of state power and administration bodies, has in recent years turned into an open dialogue with the outside world.

Wherein, the role of the public in the formation of the foreign policy agenda has significantly increased, and the circle of subjects involved in its implementation is expanding. In particular, the activity of parliamentary and people's diplomacy is growing.

Parliamentarians and the people, today determine the vector and guidelines of foreign policy, take on the role of active conductors of foreign policy priorities and spokesmen for the country's interests in the international arena.

Over the past three years, our country has become a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly. During this period, the total number of formed inter-parliamentary friendship groups reached 48, and last year the legislative body adopted the Concept of Parliamentary Diplomacy.

At the same time, international non-governmental organizations and public associations are actively involved in foreign policy, contacts at the level of twin-cities are increasing, ties between youth and women's organizations are strengthening.

The openness of foreign policy is also confirmed by the expansion of the range of politically sensitive topics discussed and jointly resolved with foreign partners. Thus, the country resumed cooperation with international human rights organizations, unblocked access to various foreign news resources.

Fifth, another significant principle is constructivism. Uzbekistan is convinced that the confrontational defense of national interests in foreign affairs, especially with neighbors, will not give the expected long-term effect.

It is important to search for reasonable compromises and a mutually acceptable balance of interests in resolving acute issues of bilateral and multilateral interaction. At the same time, any controversial issue should be a subject of discussion and not an obstacle to political dialogue.

This approach is based on other principles of our country's foreign policy. This is peacefulness and good neighborliness, which reflect the peculiarities of the mentality of the people of Uzbekistan.

The practical implementation of the above principles in a short period of time led to the settlement of the problems accumulated in Central Asia, which for many years were considered systemic irritants hindering the development of regional cooperation.

The issues of water use, delimitation and demarcation of state borders between Uzbekistan and neighboring countries, the use of transport communications and border crossing have been resolved.

Thanks to this approach, Uzbekistan has significantly intensified its participation in peacebuilding in Afghanistan, contributes to strengthening the international and regional consensus on achieving long-term and sustainable peace in the neighboring country.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan's efforts in the Afghan arena are not limited only to the goals of preventing the emergence of new hotbeds of tension or ensuring security in the region. Practical assistance in transferring Afghanistan to the track of socio-economic recovery and ensuring its integration into the system of regional interconnectedness remains a priority.

The President of Uzbekistan paid special attention to this issue in his next Address, stressing the intensification of work on the creation of a trans-Afghan corridor. This demonstrates the country's long-term commitment to helping to rebuild Afghanistan's peaceful economy and ensuring its integration into international trade and economic relations.

As a result, the political climate in Central Asia is radically changing. If earlier the region was seen as a powder keg or a tangle of intractable disagreements, today it is turning into a space of stability, good-neighborliness and peace.

All Central Asian states without exception are becoming beneficiaries of such a transformation in the perception of the region in the world. This is evidenced by the improvement in the aggregate economic indicators of the region’s countries.

In particular, in 2019 compared to 2016, the total GDP of the region increased by 19.6 percent, and foreign trade by 56 percent. At the same time, the total volume of attracted investments for the specified period showed an increase of 40 percent. Despite the pandemic, the commitment to the chosen course of regional cooperation will undoubtedly keep the dynamics of growth in the region in the long term.

Another indication of the changing approaches and increasing international attention to the region was the revision of their strategies towards Central Asia by the world's leading states. Thus, the United States, the EU and India have already presented new strategies for the region; the key place of Central Asia is highlighted in China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Russia’s Great Eurasian Partnership Project. Uzbekistan invariably advocates the conjugation of all these strategies to turn the region into space for mutually beneficial cooperation, and not into a zone of competition.

Most importantly, thanks to the use of this approach, the authority of Uzbekistan in the world arena is significantly strengthened and its international subjectivity is growing. The country has established itself as a regional actor capable of exerting a stabilizing effect on the processes taking place in the region.

In his Address to the Oliy Majlis, the President once again paid special attention to the issues of bringing interregional cooperation to a new level, announcing plans to hold the third Consultative meeting of the heads of Central Asian states.

Sixth, another principle that began to prevail in the foreign policy, reformed under the leadership of the Head of the state, is the humanization of foreign policy.

This can be seen in the example of the increased concern of the state for the interests of citizens of Uzbekistan abroad, including through the provision of state services to compatriots and involvement in the implementation of socio-economic, cultural and humanitarian projects.

In particular, back in 2018, the President of Uzbekistan signed a resolution on improving the state policy on working with compatriots living abroad. And this year, some practical measures have been implemented to promptly resolve the problems of Uzbekistan citizens living abroad.

Thus, during the pandemic, more than 500,000 labor migrants returned to the country. The assistance of various kinds was provided to about 100,000 compatriots, who found themselves in a difficult situation outside the country. Humanitarian measures continue to return citizens, mainly women and children, who, by the will of fate, found themselves in the zone of armed conflicts.

In this context, the initiative to create the fund “Vatandoshlar” (Compatriots), put forward by the leader of the country during the Address to the Oliy Majlis, deserves special attention.

The implementation of this initiative will be another significant step in supporting the citizens abroad and strengthening dialogue with them.

The humanization of Uzbekistan's foreign policy is also manifested in expanding the geography of humanitarian aid provided by the country. Recently recipients of humanitarian support from Uzbekistan have become not only residents of neighboring countries but also the peoples of remote regions, such as the Palestinians and Rohingya, who find themselves in a difficult situation.

In recent years, Uzbekistan has achieved a qualitative shift in the international arena. The country seeks to become a responsible and predictable partner, ready in a constructive and open dialogue to solve the most pressing problems of both regional and global agendas, creating the necessary favorable external conditions for the implementation of a large-scale program of reform and modernization of the country, primarily for the benefit of the people living in Uzbekistan.

In this regard, the approval of the Concept of Foreign Policy Activity in the new edition is an objective necessity and is intended to lay a solid foundation for conducting an effective foreign policy aimed at ensuring the further dynamic growth of Uzbekistan in post-pandemic realities.

Akramjon Nematov,

First Deputy Director of the Institute

for Strategic and Regional Studies

under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Azizjon Karimov,

Leading Research Fellow of the Institute

SAP SuccessFactors First Half 2024 Release: Make Every Employee a Success Story

Success can take many forms. It’s achieving AI-driven results faster and smarter. It’s unlocking more meaningful and aspirational career development experiences. It’s empowering employees and managers through simple HR-related tasks in the flow of work, freeing up more productive time across the organization.

And for you and your business, you can tell all those success stories – and more – with the SAP SuccessFactors HCM suite and our first half 2024 release.

As your organization and employees begin to embrace AI, HR has the opportunity to drive new levels of employee productivity, engagement, and growth. SAP SuccessFactors HCM can give you everything you need – the global foundation, skills framework, people-first experiences, and purpose-built AI capabilities – to help take HR to the next level. With the SAP SuccessFactors first half 2024 release, we are delivering more than 250 innovative features and enhancements.

SAP Business AI

In 1H 2024, we are thrilled to introduce more than 25 new AI capabilities to enable better employee experiences and new levels of productivity.

Among these capabilities include the ability for applicants to provide skills during the application process. This can enable recruiters to see a skills compatibility for each applicant based on matching the applicant’s skills and the job requisition, helping improve applicant screening and time to hire. Furthermore, personalization in SAP SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace is enhanced with new AI-driven recommendation categories, “Ignite Your Role” and “Reach Your Aspirations.” These guided experiences can enable employees to proactively take steps to reach their development goals.

Generative AI continues to be embedded across the SAP SuccessFactors HCM suite, including new capabilities to help employees create ready-made performance and development goals and AI-assisted writing to help improve the quality, clarity, and conciseness of writing across a variety of areas within SAP SuccessFactors solutions.

Further, with this release, insights based on an employee’s compensation and job history are available to help support managers in having effective and well-informed compensation discussions. 

We have also added more than 15 new Joule capabilities in this release to help both managers and employees get work done in a conversational way, such as creating or changing a position, creating spot awards, clocking in and out, and viewing pay statements as well as time capabilities like requesting time off, checking leave balances, and syncing holidays to Outlook calendars while managers can review and approve time off. Further, employees can now clock in and out using Joule, Microsoft Teams, or the SAP SuccessFactors Mobile app.

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central

We are excited to unveil two new people profile experiences – the profile preview and the spotlight view. The profile preview can provide a snapshot of key areas of the employee profile, including job, manager, location, and contact details, to quickly view and connect with others. Additionally, the spotlight view can showcase employee skills and competencies, mentoring and target roles, and other relevant personal and organizational information.

We are also introducing a new org chart experience with a refreshed look and feel. Available on desktop and mobile, users can explore their organizational structure with improved expand and collapse capabilities, which helps provide full accessibility to an employee’s profile preview, with an option to open the new spotlight view.

Customers can now automatically process new hires from SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting and SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding into SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central. This capability helps further reduce the time to hire, which is especially important with mass, seasonal, and high-volume hiring.

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Global Benefits

With this release, we are pleased to introduce a new benefits enrollment experience for insurance, savings, and pension benefit types. Available on both desktop and mobile, the guided experience for benefits elections can give employees increased convenience with improved navigation and increased confidence with side-by-side plan comparisons and embedded instructional text. Additionally, employees can update dependent information and manage beneficiaries directly from the benefits enrollment process, which helps further streamline the enrollment experience.  

SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking

We are thrilled to share the launch of a new time sheet experience that integrates the latest version of My Timesheet in SAP S/4HANA with SAP SuccessFactors. Employees can now record time for payroll, as well as against activities and cost objects, from a single time sheet across applications. This helps organizations leverage real-time connectivity between HR and finance operations to keep track of employee activity and labor costs and to pay employees accurately and on time.

Additionally, a new monthly calendar view for time sheets can give employees and managers a complete picture of recorded time over a month. Users can drill down into specific days and submit or approve time for pay periods beyond a week, such as biweekly or monthly.

For managers, a new time approval center helps simplify approvals with a centralized dashboard highlighting anomalies for swift resolution. Managers can monitor team working hours effectively, helping to ensure accurate and timely payroll processing.

SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding

With enhancements to the onboarding journey experience, new hires can now use the new Your Onboarding Checklist page to reference and complete all tasks – onboarding data collection, compliance tasks, additional onboarding tasks, and exploring the onboarding guide – from one place with a single view. Available for new hires, rehires, internal hires, and employees with global assignments, this improved experience can save time for onboarding participants while helping to ensure productivity from the start.

And that’s only a fraction of all the innovations we’re bringing to customers in 1H 2024. There’s much more in the release, including new and exciting updates in:

• Generative AI and Joule capabilities
• SAP SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace
• SAP SuccessFactors Compensation
• SAP SuccessFactors Succession & Development
• SAP SuccessFactors Incentive Management
• SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone

Read the SAP SuccessFactors first half 2024 release highlights brochure and watch the 1H 2024 release highlights video to find out more.

Bianka Woelke is group vice president of Application Product Management at SAP.

SAP SuccessFactors Strategy for Building Future-Ready Workforces

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Grows to 6,000 Customers

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll Natively Supports 50 Locales

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