Two master’s degree diplomas and scientific activity

Saida Mirziyoeva was born on November 4, 1984 in Kokand. At the age of 18, she entered the University of World Economy and Diplomacy, and in 2006, she received a bachelor’s degree in international law.

In 2008, Mirziyoyeva enrolled for the master’s degree program of Tashkent State Law University, and in 2010, she received a master’s degree in economics from Lomonosov Moscow State University.

According to her official autobiography, Saida Mirziyoyeva was involved in scientific research in 2010-2021. In particular, in 2018-2021, she was a student of the Academy of Public Administration.

The researcher defended her thesis on economics at Moscow State University in June 2021. The topic of the candidacy dissertation is “Improving the methodology of development and implementation of regional socio-economic strategies (based on the materials of the Republic of Uzbekistan)”.

The official website of the university contains information about Mirziyoyeva’s 6 articles, 1 monograph, 3 reports at scientific conferences, and 1 thesis. Most of them are united by the theme of national strategies for socio-economic development.

State bodies “speak up”

Saida Mirziyoyeva first appeared in the public eye as a civil servant on April 12, 2019. At that time, she was appointed to the post of Deputy Director of the Agency Information and Mass Communications under the Presidential Administration.

In this position, she was mainly assigned two tasks. It should be noted that at first Mirziyoyeva was responsible for the formation of a positive image of Uzbekistan abroad (PR center), which attracted people’s attention more. In the end, she achieved greater results in the second area assigned to her – the reform of the information services of state bodies.

Mirziyoyeva took the first position in her career quite actively, began to appear in the press more often. Shortly after the appointment, she issued a critical statement on the activities of the press services of the state bodies, condemned the lack of official information on serious events and announced that she had started to change the situation. In her speech at one of the conferences, she said that there is still no information service in about 200 khokims, and people get the information they are interested in from foreign publications.

After a certain time, Saida Mirziyoyeva announced that the draft document on the reform of the activities of press secretaries was put up for discussion. With the presidential decree signed in June 2019, serious demands were placed on the press services of all state bodies, the reputation of press secretaries was raised, and they were equaled to the deputy head of the organization. In general, comprehensive measures to establish normal information services in state bodies were approved.

After the decision was signed, meetings were held with the participation of the Prime Minister, press secretaries of AIMC and journalists. Saida Mirziyoyeva, who spoke at them, listed the problems in the field, again criticized the sluggish press services, and even suggested taking measures against officials who ignore the requirements of the information policy. As a result of these efforts, a change was noticed in the field in a short time: openness of state bodies and communication with journalists rose to a new level.

“There can be no reform without freedom of speech”

Komil Allamjonov and Saida Mirziyoyeva can be called the main promoters, supporters and defenders of freedom of speech within the government. They keep the importance of free speech on the agenda of senior management.

“The mass media and bloggers have become the flagships of civilian control. The path of openness we started is irreversible,” Saida Mirziyoyeva said in one of her speeches.

“Media freedom and quality journalism are an integral part of democracy. Real reforms cannot be implemented without ensuring freedom of speech, transparency of state bodies and accountability to society,” she said in another speech.

“We are well aware that a positive result cannot be achieved by tightening laws, banning speeches on various topics, blocking social networks and controlling opinions. All this will have a negative effect and make the situation even more complicated,” Mirziyoyeva said at one of the media conferences.

Saida Mirziyoyeva became one of the initiators of the abolition of imprisonment for defamation and insult. “A person should not be imprisoned for what he said”, she said.

Mirziyoyeva’s work at AIMC lasted 9 months. In January 2020, she and Komil Allamjonov left the agency. They explained this by the desire and plans to continue their activities in the non-state sector. Soon it became clear that the implementation of these plans had already begun: 2 days after the announcement of the resignation, they were elected to the Board of Trustees of the National Public Fund for Support and Development of Mass Media, a new public organization established to support journalists and bloggers. Komil Allamjonov became the chairman of the council, and Saida Mirziyoyeva became its deputy.

Mirziyoyeva condemned threats to freedom of speech during her work at the fund, and sent appeals to relevant ministries and the Prosecutor General’s Office for the protection of journalists in cases of pressure. Also, work was carried out in areas such as increasing the legal literacy of media representatives, establishing close cooperation with international organizations.

The heads of the fund established dialogues with high-level officials of the UN, UNESCO, UNICEF, OSCE, European Union, USA, Germany, Switzerland, and the UAE. It is noteworthy that almost all of the fund’s international partners are developed Western countries. In the context of Uzbekistan, it is noteworthy that Russia, which is considered the country’s main partner, is missing in the list.

Attitudes to painful topics

Saida Mirziyoyeva opened her official pages on social networks on the day she became an official of AIMC. Since then, she has often responded to pressing social issues. And the range of topics on which she comments is not limited to freedom of speech.

Mirziyoyeva has expressed her position on such topics as the uniform school uniform, forcing teachers to work outside of their duties, construction in the park in the center of Tashkent, and contributing to the resolution of the issues raised in favor of the general public.

In her speeches, she touched on the issue of women’s rights many times. Mirziyoyeva also reacts to such tragic events as the woman who protested against the BCE officers set herself on fire in Namangan, the 19-year-old pregnant bride was driven to the point of suicide in Khorezm, and the woman who was accused of not giving birth to a son in Navoi threw herself and her three daughters under the train.

These speeches of his are important because every time such a painful problem as violence against women becomes a topic of noise, even the leaders directly responsible for this field do not give a single word of reaction, as if they did not hear, as if they did not see, they simply remain silent. However, there are dozens of other members of the Republican Gender Commission, besides Saida Mirziyoyeva.

It should be noted that Mirziyoyeva contributed to the development of the “Zakovat” intellectual club through her work at the Mass Media Foundation. About 400 blind and visually impaired children were operated on in the “Ko‘ngil ko‘zi” project. As the deputy chairman of the board of the Foundation for the Development of Culture and Art, she participates in a number of projects in the field of culture.

Step into the big political playground

After President Shavkat Mirziyoyev appointed Sardor Umurzakov as the head of his administration, serious changes took place in the higher administration. In the past 4 months, there have been 7 personnel changes at this site.

The most important thing for the press industry is that Komil Allamjonov returned to the position of the deputy head of the administration, and in his statement on this occasion, he emphasized that “the policy of freedom of speech and openness will rise to a higher level”. Now Saida Mirziyoyeva has been appointed as the head of the Communications and Information Policy Department of the Executive Office of the Administration.

This newly created branch is included in the system of the deputy head of the administration responsible for public opinion research and information policy (K. Allamjonov). This gives rise to hope that state support for journalists may return to the level of 2019. About three years ago, after Allamjonov and Mirziyoyeva left AIMC, not only the local public, but also international observers said that the protection of the press sector weakened.

It is noteworthy that, according to the official report, Saida Mirziyoyeva will control not only the information sphere, but also the progress of reforms in the social sphere, culture and education spheres in the administration.

At this point, it should be noted that it is important that this team can directly submit its reports to the head of state instead of the reports of separate organizations. It should be recalled that during the outbreak of “demolition”, people’s complaints and comments written on social networks were brought to the President, and the head of state, who learned about the situation, severely reprimanded the regional khokims. “Here, read the comments. How can I sit quietly in my office after reading this?!” Shavkat Mirziyoyev said pointing to the khokims and showing the report brought to him.

Komil Allamjonov emphasized this aspect while talking about Saida Mirziyoyeva in one of his interviews. “They have a big role in immediately conveying the problems of the press to the management and solving them,” Allamjonov said.

There are still many acute problems that plague people. Everyone who wishes for the development of the country is interested in more unbiased information reaching the President about the problems and the people’s reaction to them.

In short, the more people around the head of the state who know a foreign language, who value freedom of speech and freedom in general, the better – today the country especially needs such personnel.