Creative industry requires real support to develop – Saida Mirziyoyeva

On June 2, the President of Uzbekistan signed a decree “On comprehensive measures to further develop the fields of culture, art and literature.” Saida Mirziyoyeva, Head of the Presidential Administration, described the decree as historic and said that building a creative industry requires real support. She wrote about this on her Telegram channel.

“For the development of culture, not only inspiration is important, but also the conditions that make it possible to turn creative ideas into reality. Building a creative industry requires real support. Today, our President signed a historic decree that provides such support,” Saida Mirziyoyeva said.

Under the decree, the state target fund “Investment in Creativity” will be established. Every year, 200 billion soums will be allocated to the fund to finance promising creative projects.

In addition, entrepreneurs organizing concerts, film companies producing films and series, producers of children’s content, private theatres and studios, and private educational institutions in the field of culture will be exempt from value-added tax, profit tax, turnover tax, land tax, property tax and personal income tax on employees’ salaries.

Favourable conditions will also be created for foreign film companies. Income they receive from producing film products in Uzbekistan will not be included in the tax base as income of non-residents.

Winners of prestigious international and national competitions will receive cash prizes. Grand prix and first-place winners will receive 300 million soums and 100 million soums, respectively. Second-place winners will receive 200 million soums and 50 million soums, while third-place winners will receive 100 million soums and 25 million soums.

Teachers will also receive support. Teachers and accompanists who train winners will be paid bonuses of up to 100 percent of their monthly salary throughout the year.

In addition, every year, 1,000 employees from the culture, arts and creative sectors who need housing will have 50 percent of the initial payment on their mortgage loans covered.

Earlier, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev presented state awards to a group of workers in the fields of culture, art and literature. During the ceremony, a meeting was also held with representatives of the sector, where a number of benefits for them were announced.