The Oydin Gurunglar international creative forum opened in Tashkent on Oct. 19, with officials highlighting efforts to promote reading and develop the Uzbek language, Daryo reported.

Nodir Jonuzoq, head of the government’s official Language Development Department, said attitudes toward the mother tongue had changed markedly in a short time. “Seven years ago, the use of the official language in official business stood at around 50% in some agencies and fell short of even that in others,” he said. “Today, all ministries, agencies and organizations conduct their business entirely in the official language.”

Jonuzoq said the names of 5,292 geographic features had been brought into line with official language norms. A Terminology Commission, which resumed work after a 30-year hiatus, approved Uzbek equivalents for nearly 100 foreign-origin words within a year, he said.

The Central Bank presented its “Financial Knowledge” project, under which 10 of the world’s best works on economics and finance have been translated into Uzbek and published. First Deputy Chairman Nodirbek Saydullayev said the bank aims to translate another 30 titles. “We also want to contribute to the development of economic literature and terminology in Uzbek,” he said.

The forum also featured the “Mahalla Library” project and the Bitik.online digital platform. Several banks are setting up libraries in mahallas, participants heard. The forum continues in Khiva on Oct. 22-25.

The president recently signed a law refining the Latin-based Uzbek alphabet. It will have 28 letters and one apostrophe-like sign for the glottal stop. Under a “one sound, one letter” principle, O’, G’, Sh and Ch will become single characters, while “ng” will be dropped from the alphabet but kept in spelling rules.