AKIPRESS.COM - The International Partnership Initiatives Week "New Uzbekistan: Development, Innovation and Enlightenment" is being held in Tashkent on July 3-7, UzA reported.

The main goal of this international week is to discuss democratic reforms in New Uzbekistan, including their nature, achievements, and future tasks, and to exchange the views on internal and external policy of the government among foreign and national experts and analysts.

More than 450 politicians, representatives of large businesses, experts, and representatives of several international organizations from more than 60 countries are participating in this conference.

In particular, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of Uzbekistan holds a conference on quality education as the foundation for a sustainable future on the third day of the week. David Richmond, British diplomat, International Relations Consultant, and Shahlo Turdikulova, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, moderated the conference.

Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Academician Ibrokhim Abdurakhmonov, highlighted that as a result of reforms in the country, legal and regulatory frameworks have been developed and radically updated, aimed at introducing effective mechanisms to create favorable conditions for development.

The annual amount of funds allocated from the state budget in innovation and science has been increased threefold, and the amount of R&D project financing has been increased by 3.5 times.

Significant efforts have been made to develop the startup ecosystem by establishing 19 innovative infrastructures and introducing systems for accelerating and incubating startup teams. Consequently, 136 startup projects with a total value of 105.7 billion soums were financed.

Furthermore, the salaries of researchers and scientists at higher education and research institutions have increased 3.2 times.

Rector of Webster University in Tashkent Vassilis Polimenis, Rector of British Management University in Tashkent Conrad Ozog, First Deputy Rector at Westminster International University in Tashkent Michael Clarke, and Rector of Tashkent State Technical University Sadritdin Turabjanov participated in the panel session "Reforms in the higher education system: modern problems and tendencies". 

World Bank expert (France) Jean-Jacques Royes, Chairman and CEO of Swiss NeWater (Switzerland) Claude Begle, Intellectual Property Legal Consultant and Project Manager of the company Red Sea Farms (Saudi Arabia) Abay Jangabilov and Rector of Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad Al-Khwarizmi Bakhtiyar Mahkamov participated in the panel session "Higher education and innovative development". 

The amount of annual funds allocated from the state budget to the fields of innovation and science has been increased by 3 times, and the amount of project financing has been increased by 3.5 times.

In higher education and scientific-research institutions, the basic salaries of employees with scientific degrees have risen by 3.2 times, and the procedure for paying additional wages to employees based on target indicators has been introduced.

Scientific research institutes’ material and technical base were updated, and 272 types of laboratory equipment worth 160.16 billion soums were delivered to them over 5 years.