The President Mirziyoyev signed Measures to Further Promote Domestic and Pilgrim Tourism in the Republic of Uzbekistan Decree introducing a 10-day visa-free for the nationals of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and China, including the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau from March 1.

Minister of Public Education Sherzod Shermatov and U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Daniel Rosenblum hosted a ceremony at Tashkent school #295 to welcome the newly-arrived group of 27 English teachers and visiting scholars from the United States, who will be teaching at schools and universities across Uzbekistan.  ​The group, which arrived in January and completed a two-week quarantine period and orientation, is the first group of U.S. exchange participants to arrive in Central Asia since the coronavirus pandemic started. 

On February 8, the seventh round of negotiations on the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Uzbekistan and the European Union began to be held online within the framework of the working groups’ meeting on trade issues, Dunyo reports. The talks will reportedly last until February 12.

A 240 MW capacity thermal power plant will be built in the Tashkent province, according to the Feb. 2 presidential decree.

On January 29, officers of the Termez city police department of the Surkhandarya province arrested the blogger Otabek Sattoriy.

A joint action plan (Road Map) for the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway project was adopted on February 2 in Tashkent following the Uzbek-Afghani-Pakistani talks, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade said in a statement.

According to the State Program for 2021, the second international legal forum Tashkent Law Spring will be held in the spring of this year. Unlike the first international law forum, the second forum will be held online.

On February 3, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree on the State Program "Year of Support for Youth and Strengthening Public Health" worth  29.5 trillion soums, 2.6 billion dollars and 57.3 million euros to be contributed for its implementation (in 2020 - 18.2 trillion soums and 10.3 billion dollars). 

Officers of the State Security Service and the Anti-Corruption Agency have detained the senior investigator of the Andijan province police department and the head of the temporary detention center of thу department, Uzbekistan 24 TV channel reported.

The Bukhara city prosecutor Jasur Fozilov has been dismissed from his post, the General Prosecutor's Office said. He was dismissed from office at his own free will and is now reportedly awaiting to be moved to another role.

Students of Muhammad al-Khwarizmi IT School of Information Technology have developed a mobile app dedicated to the works of Alisher Navoi. His ghazals and rubais have been translated into 7 languages ​​and were added to an app. It will soon be available to download from the AppStore and Google Play Market.

The Tajik Minister of Education and Science, Muhammadyusuf Imomzoda, announced that a joint Tajik-Uzbek university would be opened this year.

At the Feb. 5 meeting of the CEC Zainiddin Nizomhojaev was elected chairman of the Central Election Commission, replacing Mirzo-Ulugbek Abdusalomov, who was elected chairman of the Constitutional Court.

On the sidelines of the meeting of heads of government of the Eurasian Economic Union member and observer states in Almaty Prime Ministers Abdulla Aripov met with his Kyrgyz counterpart Ulugbek Maripov, the press service of the Kyrgyz government said.

US$ 2.5 billion will be drawn to develop Uzbekistan’s digital infrastructure in the next two years, said the PM Abdulla Aripov in his remarks at the session of the forum "Digital Reboot: A Breakthrough into a New Reality" in Almaty on February 5.

The 2021 annual conference of the Uzbek-British Trade and Industry Council (UBTIC) welcomed over 450 delegates on February 3-4, the largest ever audience in the 25-year history of the council.

Uzbekistan has established diplomatic relations with San Marino - one of the smallest states in the world (61 sq. Km), Dunyo reported.

The first meeting of the tripartite working group on the implementation of the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway project was held in Tashkent on 2 February, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade reported.

The Uzbek authorities managed to better mitigate the consequences of the COVID pandemic than most other developing countries, stated Suma Chakrabarti, adviser to the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on economic development, good governance and international cooperation.

The Uzbek Foreign Ministry has announced that Polish journalist Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska had been accredited. The Polish journalist and correspondent for Qatar's Al Jazeera in Uzbekistan, has been accredited by the Foreign Ministry, the press service of the Ministry said.