Sodiq Safoyev, First Deputy Chairman of the Senate of Oliy Majlis, delivered a speech at the roundtable on “Freedom of Speech and Press. Development of the Media in Uzbekistan”.

“Everyone knows how hard it used to be to get accredited to attend Senate plenary sessions. Senate sessions are now held not only online but also interactively. The effort is being made to address the questions raised in the Senate session on the spot,” Safoyev said. “No doubt, the mass media today is becoming the voice of the people. We probably haven’t reached much yet, but the changes are undeniable. This is really important.”

He stressed that democracy cannot be achieved without freedom of speech and the press.

“According to the UN Commission on Human Rights, freedom of speech is an integral part of human development. That’s what we need to know. If we are talking about a new renaissance, the interests of the people, we should understand that we cannot achieve these without democracy, freedom of speech and the press.

Informing the population about the activities of the government, at the same time conveying to the government the views, hopes, as well as discontent of the people, ensuring transparency, improving public administration, is important for the sustainable development of society. Undoubtedly, we all agree that freedom of speech and the press is a must now.

We must be grateful to the mass media, including electronic sources and bloggers, for raising important issues of the population, the problems of the pandemic period, and for discussing them boldly, asking the authorities to comment.

The government should consider ensuring the freedom of speech and press, guaranteeing the rights of the mass media as its main duty and responsibility. Most importantly, the head of state has the political will to do so,” Sodiq Safoyev said at the International Press Club meeting.