By UN Journal Lee Kap-soo

The ongoing reform to enhance the democratic state governance system in New Uzbekistan is being implemented under the principle of "The state serves the people, not vice versa."

Indeed, today, social advancement is inseparable from the consolidation of the state, fostering active societal engagement, shaping positive attitudes of the state servant towards society, serving the people, ensuring individual satisfaction, promoting honesty, and establishing justice, all of which are essential in modernizing social progress. The enactment of the Law "On Public Service" represents another example of the people-oriented policy pursued by our President.

There is no doubt that the state relies on competent civil servants to implement reforms. In New Uzbekistan, an integral part of state governance reform is the establishment of a comprehensive system aimed at selecting personnel, assigning them to appropriate positions, enhancing their skills, and, in essence, creating a framework for advancing their "career models." Indeed, the destiny and outcome of reforms primarily hinge on the competency of personnel, their ability to respond to the demands of the era, and the requirements of progress. Analyzing the efforts and actions undertaken thus far, it is possible to identify the following crucial aspects.

A transparent system is being established for entry into civil service. In the newly revised Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, specific provisions have been strengthened to create equal rights and opportunities for citizens entering civil service. This serves to enhance the competitiveness, transparency, and professionalism of public service. 

In Uzbekistan, with over 600,000 young people entering the labor market annually, it is anticipated that by 2030, this figure will surpass 1 million.

According to the results of a sociological study conducted by the "Social Opinion" center, which was aimed at determining the attitude of young people aged 18 to 35 years to civil service, almost half of the respondents (49.4%) expressed their desire to work in state bodies. According to the analysis of the obtained data, the preferences of the respondents differ depending on their gender characteristics, 55.6% of girls and 44.6% of boys prefer to work in state organizations.

Thus, attracting highly qualified and competent personnel to public service is one of the fundamental challenges of the state governance system in a large labor market.

In 2020, the system of attracting the most promising personnel to the state civil service on the basis of an open competition was introduced in Uzbekistan. The candidate selection system may have different procedures and evaluation criteria, but the basic condition remains the same — absolute openness and transparency of all its stages.

In their turn, candidates have the opportunity to get acquainted in advance with the job requirements established for vacant positions, the scope of responsibilities, performance evaluation criteria and performance control.

Between 2020 and 2023, in Uzbekistan, more than 150,000 selections were conducted for vacant positions in government bodies and organizations. The total number of received applications amounted to 2.4 million. As a result, 60,000 individuals were accepted into public service, of which 19,000 (28%) were youth under the age of 30.

During the past period, the selection system was improved based on national and advanced foreign experience. In particular, the qualification requirements for existing positions in state bodies and organizations were brought into a uniform form and order. This allows selection commissions to select candidates based only on approved and publicly available qualification requirements.

A candidate who has scored 56 or more points in the test phase of the competition will not participate in the test if he or she applies for other positions within three months. This process has been implemented based on the recommendations and suggestions of HR units in state organizations and of numerous candidates. The novelty of the system lies in the automatic transition of qualified candidates to the interview stage if they meet the skill requirements for the relevant vacant position. For this system, an electronic information system called the "Module for Testing Civil Servants" (test.argos.uz) has been launched, which serves to determine the knowledge and create a psychological profile of civil servants.

Transparency is also being enhanced in the interview stage of selections. Accordingly, a system for evaluating candidates by commission members is established on the same day the interview is concluded. Moreover, in all ministries, agencies, and their affiliated organizations, questions presented to candidates during the interview stage are randomized through a system (randomizer) for presenting questions in a systematic manner.

Documents related to personnel management are processed on a single platform. It is evident to all of us that the importance of digital technologies has significantly increased during the global pandemic period, indicating the crucial role of digital transformation, especially for developing countries such as Uzbekistan. Therefore, digitizing all key sectors and developing a real information society in the country is of paramount importance for the future development of New Uzbekistan.

In accordance with the decree of our President dated October 3, 2019, "On measures to further improve the personnel policy and the civil service system in the Republic of Uzbekistan," one of the main tasks of the State Agency for Public Service Development is to introduce and improve information and communication technologies in the civil service field, as well as to ensure the security of personal data of public servants by creating a database.

In line with these tasks, the activity of state bodies and organizations in managing human resources has also been fully transitioned to an electronic system. For this purpose, the State Agency for Public Service Development, together with the Ministry of Digital Technologies, introduced the hrm.argos.uz platform for HR units of state bodies. Nearly 3,000 organizations have joined the platform. The total number of job positions entered into the system is 163,400, of which 93,400 are positions in the civil service.

With the new system, all documents related to personnel management and development at the ministries and agencies are processed without any paper usage.

Additionally, personnel reports, job descriptions, and gender analyzes, as well as information on individuals with disabilities, age, and gender in the civil service, are automatically generated in each organization's sector. The new system allows for the electronic archiving of personnel information, facilitating the analysis of the composition and quantity of staff for state bodies and organizations.

The Unified National Labor System platform my.mehnat.uz, integrated with electronic applications, automatically generates information on employees and labor, integrating with the State Portal for Vacant Positions vacancy.argos.uz as its sub-platform.

It's noteworthy that the implementation of the hrm.argos.uz information system has led to a reduction in paper consumption in state bodies and organizations, ensuring timeliness, efficiency in working with employees, and security of information, as well as the establishment of a centralized database for all employees. This undoubtedly enhances the effectiveness and quality of personnel services.

In conclusion, It is crucial to note that a unified regulatory system has been developed to address systemic issues that have persisted in the civil service for many years and to ensure compliance with international standards in organizing the civil service. Most importantly, conditions are being created for the recruitment of conscientious, loyal, competent personnel, nurturing them to become exemplary individuals with dignity, professionalism, and knowledge, fostering a culture of dedication, serving the public, and competitiveness.

This article was contributed to Diplomacy Journal for publication by Ilkhom Kurbanov, Head of the Department of the State Service Development Agency under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan; Abbos Akramov, Head of the Department of the State Service Development Agency under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan; and Mamur Bayonov, Chief Inspector of the State Service Development Agency under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan through the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Seoul. –Ed.