Development of rural areas is of utmost importance for Uzbekistan poverty reduction, socio-economic development and welfare improvement. Uzbekistan is the most populous country in Central Asia with almost 28 million citizens of which more than 64% live in rural areas. The difference in living standards of rural versus urban population persists. Also rapid growth (1.2-1.7% per annum) and other changes in population of Uzbekistan have their impact on the level of living standards in rural areas.

Ms. Anita Nirody, UNDP Resident Representative, in her opening speech mentioned that in spite of significant efforts undertaken by the Government of Uzbekistan, demand still remains for a continued support and increased partnerships in addressing the needs of the vulnerable population in the rural and remote areas. “Therefore, partnership and engagement of international organizations plays an important role”, said Ms. Nirody.

In his presentation, Mr. Sherzod Akbarov, Head of the Economic Governance Unit, provided an overview of the successful initiatives and results achieved by those UNDP projects working in the area of rural development. UNDP works in the area of rural development in various focus areas including improvement of socio-economic well being of rural livelihoods, ensuring environmental sustainability with special focus on vulnerable groups, and establishment of strong governance platform and sustainable public administration systems. The presence of UNDP is also noted through several successful area based initiatives.

For the last five years UNDP has enabled the process of improving livings standards in the regions especially rural areas through various successful initiatives in economic development, local governance and environmental sustainability. Examples of these initiatives were been demonstrated to the participants of the meeting.

The policy direction and potential growth areas were revealed through a new Policy Brief on Rural Development, exploring challenges and perspectives in rural development of Uzbekistan, prepared by Mr. Nick Maddock, Rural Development Specialist from Bratislava Regional Centre. In his presentation Mr. Maddock underlined three possible policy options of rural development. Such as: a) Increasing value added in the rural economy; b) Supporting rural enterprise; c) Promoting growth in the dehkan sector.

UNDP partners have shown a great interest and shared their feedback on works done in rural development. UNESCO’s representative stated that it is important to promote the rural sustainable development and pay attention to the knowledge of rural population and educate local farmers on effective income generation issues. Israeli Ambassador, Dr. Hillel Newman, mentioned that his country is renowned with new technologies on desalinization of soil and land. “Implementation of these technologies in Uzbekistan would be practical and helpful”, said Dr. Newman.

A small exhibition of photos and other visual materials have been displayed, showing examples of UNDP’s work in the area of rural development.

The meeting, which was attended by more than 30 key partners and representatives of international development organizations, served as a good dialogue platform for stressing the importance of rural development in Uzbekistan.