At the Oqsaroy on 24 February, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov chaired a regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Fund for the Development of Children's Sports of Uzbekistan.

The head of our state expounded on the efforts undertaken by the Fund last year and issues in the further perfection of its activities.

"Today, our life confirms the aptness of the establishment of this fund that serves to promote children's sports, nurture a healthy and comprehensively advanced generation," President Islam Karimov said.

"Sports have become an inseparable part of the lives of our families and been cemented in the consciousness of our people. Parents are bringing their kids to sports hobby groups. Boys and girls going in for sports are growing healthy, strong and resolute, and their world outlook has been changing. In a word, our nation has manifested itself in sports, as well."

Wide-ranging works are underway in our country in the name of this noble end. The measures being taken to prop up healthy lifestyle, consolidate families, secure the protection of motherhood and childhood have been helping bolster the health of the population and boost the living standards.

The principal criterion of these endeavors is to ensure the health of children. After all, a sound child will grow into a physically powerful, strong-willed and reasonable person capable of achieving the goals set and of bringing good for the family and society.

Uzbekistan's Fund for the Development of Children's Sports has been instrumental in fostering a comprehensively advanced generation. From the moment it was set up, more than 1,700 sporting facilities have been erected in our country. They are outfitted with state-of-the-art hardware and equipment that indisputably promotes regular attendance of sports, consolidation of children's health, triumphs of our youth in the international arena and amplification of our Motherland's standing.

Extensive efforts have been undertaken within the frameworks of the National Program for Bolstering the Economic and Technical Capacities and Further Improving the Activities of Children's Music and Arts Schools for 2009-2014. In particular, 278 children's music and arts schools have been commissioned. They were supplied with more than 30 thousand new music instruments, 61 thousand copies of learning guides, notes of national and world music compositions.

Islam Karimov noted the necessity of consistent continuation of works directed at building music and arts schools and of elaborating a new concept to further these goals. Uzbekistan's leader stressed the importance of studying the classics of world music art in these schools alongside the national music heritage.

Physical and spiritual development constitutes the two wings of the person. Sport hardens the body and willpower, while arts nurture taste and uplift the cultural state of mind. Children going in for sports are confident in themselves, whereas people who understand and value the beautiful wield a broad outlook. Such youths enrich the society and will never stray from the right path.

In the year 2014 that was announced in Uzbekistan as the Year of Healthy Child, the scale of these works expanded even more. The implementation of the National Program adopted in connection with that helped boost the medical culture of the population, effectiveness of diseases prophylaxis, affirmation of the healthy lifestyle and the dynamic development of sports.

Within the frameworks of the concept "Healthy Mother – Healthy Child", women and children have been undergoing medical examination and they have been extensively engaged in sports. As a result of these gracious endeavors, birth of children with congenital pathologies has decreased 1.3 times. Morbidity with acute infections among children aged 6-15 has declined by 34.4 percent, with pneumonia by 49.7 percent, with bronchitis by 32.8%, and scoliosis by 32.7 percent.

The resolution of the head of our state "On the National Program to Further Boost the Reproductive Health of the Population, Protect the Health of Mothers, Children and Teenagers in Uzbekistan for 2014-2018", signed 1 August 2014, has stimulated the enhancement of opportunities for the physical and spiritual development of our children and the further perfection of the youth policy.

The meeting participants analyzed comprehensively the works designed to construct, repair and outfit the sporting facilities and swimming pools. A special significance was placed on issues relating to the elevation of effectiveness in the operation of sports complexes and on those pertinent to a more extensive engagement of children, especially girls, in sports.

The efforts in the construction, reconstruction and capital overhaul of the sports facilities and children's music and arts schools were continued steadily in 2014. In particular, 115 facilities of children's sports and 48 children's music and arts schools were erected.

Owing to the fact that all the sports complexes were provided with cutting-edge sporting equipment and staffed with qualified coaches, the mass nature of sports has been expanding. Currently, in excess of two million children are involved in 30 types of sports. Average usage of sporting facilities constitutes 9.8 hours per day.

Facilities of children's sports are being equipped with hardware and tools of mostly local production. 116 types of sporting equipment and stock out of 120 are currently manufactured by enterprises of our country.

For girls, sports uniforms suiting the national mentality of our people are produced, and wider opportunities for training coach women and physical culture teachers are being created.

The head of our state underlined specifically the importance of further promotion of the activities of the Fund meeting contemporary requirements.

Life does not stand intact. Requirements change over the course of time, and competition rises. For this reason, we should critically reassess the efforts undertaken to promote sports with a close eye on contemporary developments.

Athletes of our country have been preparing actively for the Summer Olympics 2016. In accordance with the 25 February 2013 resolution of the head of our state "On Preparing the Athletes of Uzbekistan for the 31st Summer Olympic Games and the 15th Paralympics 2016 due in the City of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil", endeavors on this front have been in progress in modern conditions and environment.

Victories of our sportspeople play an important role in the extensive popularization of sports. Looking at young men and women triumphant in international competitions and holding Uzbekistan's flag high, we all experience boundless pride and joy. Such achievements help amplify the glory of our native land in the international arena.

It was pointed out that it is essential to raise the works carried out in this sphere to a new level, train highly professional athletes and enhance their participation in international contests.

Each type of sports has to have a special complex. In order to further this end, it is imperative to build specialized sports complexes in all the regions of the country to train international class masters of sports. Those facilities ought to be staffed with the most qualified coaches, and if need be – specialists should be invited from abroad, while the expertise of advanced nations in sports should be studied, the President of our country said.

The session participants discussed the works to be embarked on in 2015. Tasks have been outlined concerning the construction and reconstruction of sporting facilities, the provision of them with necessary equipment and stock.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Adham Ikramov, Minister of Public Education Ulughbek Inoyatov, Deputy Minister of Public Education – Executive Director of the Fund for the Development of Children's Sports Erkin Iskandarov, Chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan Mirabror Usmanov, heads of a range of ministries and agencies as well as hokims of regions spoke on the issues discussed.

Corresponding decisions were adopted on the issues deliberated at the meeting.