The National Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2021-2025 is being developed by the Anti-Corruption Agency of Uzbekistan with the involvement of international organizations, the agency said on its website. Civil society institutions can also contribute to the discussion.

"The strategy will be developed on the basis of a thorough analysis of the current situation and the corruption cases and will be presented for public discussion," the statement added.

When developing a strategy, the following will be taken account of such as:

• institutionalization of independence and efficiency of the judiciary;
• rules governing the resolution of conflicts of interest;
• recruitment to civil service on merit-only basis;
• sufficient pay for civil servants;
• decentralization of power;
• increasing the transparency of budgetary processes for supervisory authorities;
• increasing transparency in the tax administration and other issues.

The development, approval and implementation of the strategy will be systematic and will focus on the central issues to be resolved. “The strategy’s consistency shall serve as the potential for transforming the entire state,” the agency emphasizes.

The well-thought-out phasedness and duration of the strategy's results will serve to eliminate permanent corruption.

The strategy’s expected outcomes are "a change in the perception that problems can only be solved with bribery, gifts, graft," the statement says.

Over the past two years, almost 2,000 officials have been brought to justice for corruption-related crimes, who by their illegal actions caused 2 trillion-soum, US$ 200 million, worth of damage to the state, the agency noted.

To increase the effectiveness of combating corruption in this activity "it is necessary to involve multidisciplinary specialists, including political scientists, sociologists, specialists in the field of digital technologies, in the field of banking services, representatives of civil society institutions and the media."

It is necessary to use anti-corruption measures not separately, but through the entire system of measures and conditions to ensure effective counteraction.

In his congratulations on Constitution Day in early December, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev stated that the development of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy “is the most important and priority task for us. After all, corruption is an extremely dangerous challenge, destroying the state from within and undermining our national security."