The senators started their work with consideration of the state budget for 2009. They noted that the main directions of the tax and budget policy for the coming year envisaged further strengthening of the macroeconomic stability and the income base of the budget, as well as creation of favorable conditions for development of economic entities.

The members of the Senate drew the attention to the high level of social orientation of the state budget, namely, the consistent increase of the people’s incomes, improvement of the educational and healthcare services, as well as social protection.

The budget for the next year foresees allocation of funds for state programs of development of schools, personnel training, improvement of medical services and provision of the rural population with drinking water and gas.

At the same time, the financing of works to improve the meliorate state of irrigated lands will be increased.

In order to support and stimulate the development of the small business producing industrial goods, the basic single tax payment for this sector will be reduced from 8% to 7%.

Reduction of the fixed tax for income of legal entities and individuals dealing with private entrepreneurship is also planned.

Adoption of these measures is expected to assist in creation of new workplaces and improvement of the people’s living conditions.

The senators approved the state budget of Uzbekistan for 2009.

The Senate then considered the law on introducing changes in the legislative acts in connection with improvement of the election legislation.

The law is aimed at increasing the role and influence of political parties in the parliament’s activity, and of the representative bodies of authorities in the democratic renewal of the country.

In particular, the number of deputy places in the Legislative Chamber will be increased from 120 to 150. 135 deputies will be elected by territorial districts on a multi-party basis.

Taking into account the importance of the environmental protection and healthcare issues, the changes in the law on elections to the parliament envisages allocation of 15 deputy places to the Environmental movement of Uzbekistan.

A number of changes have been introduced to the election legislation, aimed at further liberalization and democratization of the election system. The senators approved the law.

The Senate also approved the law on introducing changes in the legislation in connection with improvement of the implementation of the amnesty act.

The law established the order, according to which the amnesty act at the pre-court and criminal punishment stages is applied by the courts.

The members of the parliament’s upper chamber also approved two laws related to improvement of the tax legislation. These are laws on introducing changes in the Tax code and in the legal acts in connection with the improvement of the tax legislation.

The first law envisages introduction of changes and addenda to 77 articles of the Tax code, while the second brings the separate norms of the laws in compliance with the norms of the Tax code.

Another law approved by the Senate was the law on introducing changes in the law on guarantees of activity of the NGOs. The changes are made to the articles 12 to 14 of the law and are related to the body, which sets the order and terms of allocation of state subsidies, grants and social orders to NGOs.

The adoption of the law will help to boost the activity of the NGOs and ensure transparency in allocation of budget funds to NGOs.