UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, the Republican Scientific and Practical Centre "Oila" and the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan organized a half-day meeting with national experts from state agencies to discuss issues related to the National Millennium Development Goals in Uzbekistan and the ICPD Programme of Action. A similar meeting was held in Tashkent in 1999 which was organized on the 15th anniversary of the ICPD. This year's agenda focused on population health, particularly reproductive and maternal health, empowerment of women, environmental protection and the fight against tuberculosis.

International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) 1994 was a milestone in the history of population and development, as well as in the history of women's rights. At the conference, International community noted that talking about the population of the world, one must not talk about numbers, but about people. This legal approach based on the idea that each person is significant. It also agreed that the empowerment of women is not only an end in itself, but a step towards eradicating poverty and stabilizing population growth.

Reproductive health and rights is the cornerstone of the empowerment of women. At the conference, 179 countries adopted a 20-year Programme of Action, which focused on the needs of people, rather than on achieving demographic targets. Recommendations and commitments of Cairo were again discussed and confirmed at the meeting of the five-year review of the ICPD. Specific objectives include the provision of universal education, reducing infant, child and maternal mortality, and ensuring universal access to reproductive health, including family planning, assisted childbirth and prevention of sexually transmitted infections including HIV by 2015.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. Currently, UNFPA implements its third Country Programme in Uzbekistan, for the period of 2010-2015. Under this strategic plan, UNFPA continues to focus on:

● advancing national capacities in using population data for development programmes;

● promoting reproductive health and rights, including access of young people to information of reproductive health;

● ensuring full implementation of women and men’s rights, opportunities and responsibilities.