Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev delivers an address to the Uzbek Parliament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Jan. 24, 2020. Shavkat Mirziyoyev has declared 2020 the year of the development of science, education and the digital economy, in an address to the country's parliament on Friday. (Photo by Zafar Khalilov/Xinhua)
TASHKENT, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan will prioritize the development of the digital economy, science and education, and fight against corruption in 2020, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said Friday in his message to the country's parliament.
Mirziyoyev has declared 2020 the year of the development of science, education and the digital economy, in his address to deputies, which was the third since he came to power in 2016.
The development of the digital economy and digital governance are the most important steps to make the country more attractive for foreign investments and to develop various sectors of the economy, Mirziyoyev said.
The president proposed to set up an independent anticorruption body to fight corruption, which is a serious "obstacle on the way of development," and also an agency for exports to stimulate the country's exporters.
Uzbekistan has started a project to train a million software programmers, hoping that they would be "a drive of the economy and the society in 3-4 years," he added.
Mirziyoyev said that the Central Asian nation will gradually reduce the state's role in cotton and wheat growing and trading starting this year and will make efforts to increase fruit and vegetable exports to 2 billion U.S. dollars.
Mirziyoyev's reforms for 2020 will also include easing restrictions on the domestic migration system and granting Uzbek citizenship to those living in the country since 1995.
