OREANDA-NEWS. August 15, 2011. The Internet festival of the national domain UZ, devoted to the 20th anniversary of idependence of Uzbekistan, started. Among its organizers are the Fund “Forum of culture and art of Uzbekistan”, Youth initiatives center “Kelajak Ovozi” and Computer and information technologies development center UZINFOCOM. The official support to the event is provided by the Uzbek Agency for Communication and Information (UzACI). InfoCOM.UZ magazine is the festival coordinator.

The number of internet users in Uzbekistan is over 7.7 million, including 4.27 million using the net through mobile phones, Khurshid Mirzakhidov, first deputy director-general of UzACI said at the press conference devoted to the Internet festival.

The first internet festival was held in Uzbekistan in 2001. Starting from 2007, the festival is held only among websites in the UZ domain. The national top-level domain UZ was created on 29 April 1995. As of 10 August, the number of active second-level domains in the national zone is over 12,500.

This year’s festival will be held until 26 September. Its main goals are popularizing the internet among the population, promoting development of the national online content and expansion of use of the Uzbek language on the internet.