12th of December is the 2-year anniversary of the establishment of Public Services Agency

Public Services Agency under the Ministry of Justice with its 201 Public Service Centres was established with the initiative of the President of Republic of Uzbekistan on 12th of December 2017. Main objective of its establishment was maximum simplification of the process of getting government provided services, eliminating excess paperwork, long queues, as well as corruption. The Agency was created on the base of People`s reception office of the President which had deserved public trust and showed high efficiency of its operations among citizens.

Statistical indicators show the efficiency of the creation of Public Service Centres. For comparison, if there were only 120 thousand services provided through previous single service centres during 2017, since the establishment of the Agency this index reached 20 million and the number of available services increased to 120. The figure is continuing to increase and gradual implementation of more demanded services has been ongoing.

A number of meetings are being organized by the Agency in order to rise interest and trust in Public Service Centres among the population, for young people who plan to start business, for businessmen and for residents of far rural regions. Along with this, large scale explanatory work is being conducted to introduce people the ways of getting public services online.

So far, a lot has been done in order to improve the sphere of public services.

For example,

-amount of documents required for receiving public services shrank from 112 to 52;

-duration of providing public services decreased twice – from 280 days to 126;

- in order to avoid excess paperwork, decrease the waste of time and expenditure of the population 53 branches of Public Service Centres have started their operations in remote areas of the country.

At the moment, in each Public Service Centre there is an administrator’s corner where citizens can get necessary information and directors of Public Service Center welcome every citizen personally.

Moreover, effective system of working with appeals and proposals has been introduced. For convenience of citizens there is also a feedback system in Telegram, in official Facebook page, and helpline (1148).

Today, throughout the whole country has been launched construction of new comfortable Public Service Centres. About 60 of such buildings have already started their operations.

New buildings of Public Service Centres are designed in a branded style and include additional elements of high convenience. Furthermore, there are equipped with infokiosk with which it is possible to receive public services online, a number of signposts placed throughout the centre, service quality evaluation system, electronic queue, and improved waiting areas.

Moreover, there are rooms for moms and babies, medical point, cashier point for making payments, monitors demonstrating process of getting service, queue order, special corners for self-services, library, café, and access to free Wi-Fi.

For disabled people there are special facilities designed. Overall, there is an individual approach for each citizen.

Providing sustainable growth of national economy, attracting foreign direct investment into regions, involving population in entrepreneurial activities are among the key objectives of Republic of Uzbekistan.

Significantly, the first step into the business starts from Public Service Centres – where the entity is registered. Public Services Agency is the single government body eligible to register a business. Therefore, Public Services Agency which operates under the Ministry of Justice, is committed to increase position of the country especially for this international ratings indicator.

Today, thanks to the availability of a special automated system, it is possible to register a business in Public Service Centres in just 15-20 minutes as well as open a bank account in both national and foreign currencies. In addition, this procedure can be performed remotely, in the online mode. And in order to stimulate and encourage citizens to use electronic public services, various benefits and discounts are introduced when paying state duties and fees.

Thanks to the launch of an open platform for all entrepreneurs, investors and other business entities are able to get the necessary information about a future business partner online. Information is available on the name of the company, the date of registration, the size of the authorized capital, as well as the founders.

The verification of a business partner will help to verify its integrity and professionalism, thereby allowing entrepreneurs to avoid the facts of fraud and cooperation, which can cause losses.

Success was not long in coming, for the first time in the history of modern Uzbekistan, according to the results of the World Bank's report “Doing-business-2020” in the indicator of “Starting business”, Uzbekistan took 8th position from 190 countries and entered the top ten.

Also, for the convenience of citizens, from June 1, 2019, individuals and legal entities are entitled to receive the majority of public services at Public Service Centres on an extraterritorial basis, regardless of the place of permanent (temporary) residence of citizens and the mailing address (location) of legal entities.

The Public Services Agency is interested in 100% citizen access to efficient and high-quality public services. That’s why, one of the most significant works of the Agency today is the joint project with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the European Union and the United Nations Development Program in Uzbekistan on “Improving the provision of public services and improving the level of governance in rural areas of Uzbekistan”, which provides:

- improving the quality of public services, as an important step on the part of the government of Uzbekistan to improve the quality of life of vulnerable segments of the population in rural areas - primarily women, youth and children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

Since it is precisely these groups that most acutely feel the consequences of the digital divide;

- ensuring transparency and openness in the system of public services. This will be achieved by introducing and studying best practices in accessing all categories of citizens to information, monitoring the quality of public services in real time;

- automation of processes by eliminating the human factor in various procedures in the provision of public services;

- anti-corruption measures.

Also, as part of the project, in the most remote and inaccessible Public Service Centres in 5 regions of the Republic - Tashkent, Jizzakh, Syrdarya, Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions, high standards of public services that meet international requirements will be tested. In the near future, this experience will be applied to all Centres.

In addition, to ensure quick access to public services for all citizens, regardless of their place of residence, the project plans to open branches of Public Services Centres on the basis of public-private partnership principles.

Division of Public Relations and Media

of the Agency of Public Services

under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan