President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko adopted the Joint Statement following the bilateral talks in Minsk and oversaw the signing of 11 accords between the governments, ministries and companies of the two countries, the Uzbek presidential press service reported.

Presidents of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Belarus Alexander Lukashenko held talks today at the Independence Palace in Minsk, the Uzbek President’s press service reported.

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the start of nation-wide construction of the Great Ferghana Canal when 160 thousand peasants started digging works on the future riverline.

Uzbek PM Abdulla Aripov held talks with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov as part of a working visit to Bishkek on Thursday.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the Inter-Agency Commission on Combating Trafficking in Persons and International Organization for Migration (IOM) held an informational campaign on Tashkent’s Broadway to recognize World Day against Trafficking in Persons.

On July 29, the Government of Uzbekistan approved the draft Rights of Persons With Disabilities Bill to be submitted to the parliament, the Deputy PM Aziz Abdukhakimov said on his Facebook page.

In pursuance of the presidential decree on measures to improve the system of combating human trafficking and forced labor the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Employment were instructed to prepare a draft bill inserting liability for allowing child and forced labor into the Criminal Code.

On July 30, the Chairman of the Uzbekistan State Security Service (SSS), Lieutenant-General Azizov Abdusalom Abdumavlonovich on Tuesday called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on July 29 signed the Arms Bill into Law, passed by the Legislative Chamber on May 18 and approved by the Senate on June 21. The Law will take effect in six months.

A bust to the Uzbek poet Alisher Navoi was inaugurated on July 29 in Minsk as part of the first Uzbekistan-Belarus Provinces Forum, BelTA reported.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, during his recent visit to Samarkand, instructed to build an elevated light metro, the Deputy PM in charge of Social Development Aziz Abdukhakimov told Uzbekistan 24.

This last week a numerous delegation of top-level officials and business folk from Uzbekistan paid a first-ever such visit to the US, initially to Washington DC for policy consultations then to New York for days-long conferences. The one I attended in Manhattan, geared to capital markets, was a real eye-opener, genuinely even surprisingly impressive. One watched in something like awe as frank, detailed, convincingly documented presentations (in English) about capital investment opportunities followed one another. By youthful Uzbek CEO's of industrial and banking concerns essentially to an audience of Wall Street finance companies. I canvassed the Americans and found the mood to be uniformly enthusiastic. They were going to do some serious business. I also spoke with the American-educated Atabek Nazirov, Director of Capital Markets Development Agency (CMDA), a ministry level post. Conclusion: Uzbekistan is thawing out and opening up.

Umidjan Israilov has been appointed deputy minister of energy, the ministry said. Previously, he served as chairman at the Uzbek-Korean joint venture Uz-Kor Gas Chemical, which operates the Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex in Karakalpakstan.

Lines of riot police officers in body armor and helmets blocked the streets of central Moscow on Saturday, arresting more than 1,300 demonstrators — chasing some of them down alleys — to blunt a protest over the fairness of coming city elections.

The first Uzbekistan-Belarus Provinces Forum will open today in Minsk, BelTA said. The program of the forum includes three thematic sections: industrial cooperation, the agro-industrial complex, cooperation in the humanitarian, IT and science. The main theme of the plenary session on July 30 will be the cooperation between the ptrovinces as a key factor in the development of bilateral ties. It is expected that about 15 inter-province cooperation deal, as well as trade contracts will be signed at the forum sites.

Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, who visited Urgench on Saturday, chaired a video-conference meeting on the issue of real estate demolitions, which was attended by the ministers, governors and mayors.

Members of the LGBT community of Uzbekistan addressed a letter to President Mirziyoyev requesting to delete the Article 120 (Homosexualism) form the Criminal Code.

The second terminal of the Tashkent business aviation airport will be built by Swiss companies B&A Contractors S. A. and IT Engineering S. A., which are part of the Mabetex Group, the main contractor Uzbekistan Railways said.

On 24 July 2019, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in Ferghana city within KOICA’s project for Establishment of Vocational Training Center in Ferghana province in Uzbekistan. The First Deputy Minister of Employment and Labor Relations of the Republic of Uzbekistan Mukhitdinov E.M., Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea in Uzbekistan Kang Jae Kwon, Director of KOICA Uzbekistan Office Son Sung Il, representatives of the Ferghana provincial administration, project’s designing and construction companies and other high level guests attended the event.

After a quarter-century under Islam Karimov, whose repressive rule brought a strong measure of economic isolation, Uzbekistan is taking steps to open its economy to foreign investment, the Radio Liberty said.