Uzbekistan to shift paperwork in Uzbek language to Latin script by 2023
TASHKENT. Feb 12 (Interfax) - The Uzbek government has issued a decree ordering that all paperwork in the Uzbek language be transferred from the Cyrillic script, which the country uses today, to the Latin script by January 1, 2023.
"Starting January 1, 2023, all organizations, regardless of their form of business entity, will be required to draft, adopt, and publish their paperwork and other documents in the Uzbek language using the Latin script," Uzbekistan's Justice Ministry said on Thursday.
According to the Justice Ministry, the governmental decree also endorses a roadmap for a full stage-by-stage transition to the use of the Latin alphabet in the Uzbek language. In accordance with this document, starting January 2022, only the Latin script will be used in identification documents in the Uzbek language, and starting December 2022, the Latin script will be used in the names of street, on signs, in advertisements, etc.
In October 2020, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev ordered the government form a working group to facilitate the shift to the Latin alphabet in the country.
First Uzbek President Islam Karimov issued a decree ordering a transition to the Latin script in the country back in September 1993. Karimov's decree set 2005 as the deadline for completing this transition. However, this deadline has been postponed twice, first to 2010 and then to 2015. Uzbek-language schools, for their part, gradually switched to the Latin alphabet starting in 1995.
Nowadays, the Latin script is widely used in Uzbekistan's education sector and partly in paperwork, television, and the media. The online resources of the state authorities have both Cyrillic and Latin versions.
