The Anti-Corruption Agency hosted April 1 a meeting of the Commission for Assessing the Effectiveness and Productivity of Ongoing Work in Ensuring Openness.

The meeting discussed in detail the final results of the Openness Index, assessing the effectiveness and productivity of the work carried out on openness in government agencies and organizations. The Openness Index is calculated in accordance with Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No.DP-154.

The Openness Index, published for the second time, is formed on the basis of 8 indicators, consisting of 84 evaluation criteria. Performance indicators are divided into green, yellow and red categories: organizations scoring from 71 to 100 points include in the green category, organizations scoring from 55 to 71 points join the yellow category, and those who scored less than 55 points go into the red category.

This year, the activities of 103 (in 2022 - 86) republican executive bodies - ministries, committees, agencies, inspectorates and local government bodies - were assessed. The final results have been published on the index.anticorruption.uz platform.

Opening the meeting, Akmal Burkhanov, Director of the Anti-Corruption Agency, spoke about the positive results achieved in ensuring openness in Uzbekistan, the measures taken to assess the Openness Index in 2023, and the digitalization of assessment processes.

He noted that in recent years, openness legislation has been improved to meet the requirements of advanced international standards. According to the analysis, 180 regulations adopted in 2017-2023 identify 328 tasks and instructions aimed at introducing openness and transparency mechanisms. In particular, Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No.DP-200, adopted in November 2023, expanded the List of socially significant information to be posted as open data. As a result of the publication of information on public procurement during studies conducted by the Anti-Corruption Agency, 138 violations of the law were eliminated, and public procurements in the amount of 110 billion soums were cancelled. Or, to date, 123 government agencies and organizations have announced the launch of more than 615 communication channels (hotlines with short number, emails and other electronic addresses, Telegram bots, platforms or other special software), allowing reporting of types corruption violations. 75 percent of the 103 government agencies published reports on their activities in 2023 and discussed them with the public.

At the meeting of the Assessment Commission, a report was heard on each assessment indicator of the government bodies involved in the assessment, and the Commission finalized the results of the Openness Index 2023.

         According to the assessment results, 31 government agencies joined the green category (71-100 points), 43 organizations placed in the yellow category (55-71 points), and 29 government bodies with performance indicators below 55 points dropped into the red category.

According to the analysis, the number of government agencies in the green category increased by 16 (13%) compared to last year. It is noteworthy that organizations included in the red category at the end of 2022 showed sharp positive growth. A striking example of this is the results of the following organizations: Uzsuvtaminot JSC - 81 points (47 points in 2022), Turonbank JSCB - 78 points (53 points in 2022), the Uzbek Metallurgical Plant JSC  - 77 points (48 points in 2022), Hududgazta’minot JSC - 75 points (52 points in 2022).

When comparing the results with the previous year, significant positive changes were noted in such areas as the Application of the principles of openness in the early detection and prevention of corruption, as well as the Posting of information on the Open Data Portal. In particular, 12 government agencies met the requirements of the Evaluation Criteria for Posting information on the Open Data Portal with a 100 percent result. Also, 6 government bodies fully complied with the requirements of the Criteria for Assessing the effectiveness of the public council, ensuring openness of activities in this track.

The Statistics Agency under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan has the highest score on the Openness Index 2023 (88 points). It is followed by the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Complex JSC (86 points), the Competition Promotion and Consumer Protection Committee  (86 points), the Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company JSC (84 points) and the Khorezm Regional Administration (84 points).

Based on the results of the Openness Index, the Assessment Commission identified tasks and goals for analyzing and eliminating systemic shortcomings in ensuring openness, as well as further improving activities in this track. Thus, positive experience in ensuring the openness of government bodies and organizations included in the green category will be popularized.

Recommendations will be developed for further improvement of the activities of government bodies and organizations in the field of ensuring openness included in the yellow category, and they will be provided with practical support in their implementation.

It is planned to make a proposal to apply disciplinary sanctions to responsible persons whose organizations fall into the red category in accordance with the law, to study and eliminate systemic shortcomings in ensuring openness, and to develop a program of measures to improve their activities in this track. Also, at meetings of the Presidium of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, information will be heard from the heads of government bodies and organizations included in the red category about the shortcomings in ensuring openness and planned measures to eliminate them.

In addition to the issues included in the agenda, it was decided to develop a comprehensive program of measures to eliminate and prevent shortcomings identified during the assessment.

Following the event, high-performing government officials received memorable gifts.

Press Office, the Anti-Corruption Agency