An International Commercial Arbitration court with a panel including foreign judges could be established in Uzbekistan this year. A draft law on this, developed by the Chamber of Commerce, has been published for discussion on the Single portal of online public services.

Construction of Sergeli overground line, part of Tashkent underground, is estimated to cost 170.1 million US dollars. The project estimates are given in the Nov 29, 2016 Presidential Resolution, published on January 5 on the website of the Finance Ministry.

The government has set as of January 1, 2017 new cigarette excise tax rate pursuant the Presidential decree "On main macroeconomic indicators and parameters of the State Budget of Uzbekistan for 2017". The excise tax for with filter and non-filter cigarettes increased (for 1000 units) from 28.794 to 37.432 thousand soums (+29.9%).

Abdusalom Azizov has been appointed as Interior Minister of Uzbekistan, a January 4 statement of the Interior Ministry website said.

The President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on January 3 signed a law "On Countering Corruption", which will take effect from the date of publication. The text of the document was released on January 4 in Xalq So’zi newspaper.

The purpose of the law is to regulate relations in countering corruption. The document gives definitions to the concepts of "corruption", "corruption offense" and "conflict of interest".

The basic principles of countering corruption, according to the document is the legality; priority of rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens; openness and transparency, system approach; interaction between the state and civil society; priority measures to prevent corruption and the inevitability of punishment.

Starting from January 1, the fellows of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan will receive a monthly non-taxable fee (royalty), equivalent of 10 minimum wages (about 1.5 million soums). This is foreseen by the Decree of the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of 29 December.

On January 2, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev sent a congratulatory message to the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping, on the occasion of 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries:

On January 2, the Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message to the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev in which he expressed his good wishes on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries:

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev wished the people of Uzbekistan a Happy New Year. For the first time in many years, President’s New Year greeting both in Russian and Uzbek languages was aired on TV.

On 31 December an Agreement was signed in Tashkent between the Government of Uzbekistan and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany on technical cooperation for the implementation of the project "Land use based on ecosystem approach and conservation of the ecosystems in the lower course of the Amu Darya river".

Shavkat Mirziyoyev said that it is absolutely vital to raise science to a new level, failing to do so it will be difficult to solve th problems that the society is facing. Comprehensive support for science and scientists is one of the priorities of the state, he said.

President Mirziyoyev signed a Decree on December 28 according to which Tursinkhan Khudaibergenov, who from March 2010 headed the Ministry of Emergency Situations, has been appointed the State Advisor to the President, and will oversee and coordinate the work with appeals of individuals and legal entities.

The UN Secretary-General-elect António Guterres sent a message to the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in which he expressed hope for deepening the close cooperation between the organization and the republic "for the welbeing of the Uzbek people and the Central Asian region as a whole", the message said.

Uzbek Commodity Exchange launched the bot - @rtsb_bot in Telegram messenger. The UZEX bot is intended to facilitate the customer service. In particular with the help of the messenger clients will be able to get information on tariffs for e-procurement services, download the instruction on how to participate in government and corporate procurement and learn latest news from UZEX.

On December 29, Tashkent hosted a special conference of the Uzbekistan’s Journalists Union, during which Sadulla Khakimov, the Honored Worker of Culture of Uzbekistan, was elected as the new chairman.

On December 28 in the conference hall of Uzbekistan Hotel was held a working meeting of the Tourism Development Committee with the participation of representatives of government bodies and business entities in the field of tourism.

A number of agreements have been signed following the meeting of the Uzbekistan-Tajikistan intergovernmental commission on trade-economic cooperation in Dushanbe.

On December 28, Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister, Abdulaziz Kamilov received the newly appointed Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey, Ahmet Başar Şen, who presented a copy of credentials to Minister Kamilov, the press service of the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.

Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) on 27 December 2016 signed a Record of Discussions with the Academy of Public Administration (APA) under the President of Uzbekistan for the implementation of KOICA’s project entitled “Academy of Public Administration Capacity Building Project for Public Sector Innovation in Uzbekistan”.

Following this year’s cotton harvest season (from September 19 to October 31), administrative action  has been taken against 3 school principals, 2 directors of professional colleges, 2 managers of farms and 1 head of polyclinics for forcing employees and children under 18 to pick cotton. The total fine amount is 4.7 million soums, the Labour Ministry said.