OREANDA-NEWS. July 13, 2011. Tashkent hosted a round-table dedicated to social partnership and development of civil society, as well as discussion of the bill “On Social Partnership.” It was organized by Ombudsman of Oliy Majlis for Human Rights in cooperation with the OSCE Projects Coordinator in Uzbekistan.

In the Concept of further deepening of democratic reforms and formation of civil society in the country, President Islam Karimov noted that it was necessary to adopt the law “On Social Partnership” for further development of civil society institutions to strengthen their role in ensuring transparency and efficiency of the reforms.

It is known that social partnership is a special area of public relations that balances the implementation of major socio-economic interests of major sectors of society. An important objective of social partnership is to coordinate and protect the interests of various social strata and facilitate resolution of economic and political problems as well as formation of a strong civil society.

“Uzbekistan pays special attention to strengthening the partnership between state agencies and the private sector and gained relevant experience,” said the OSCE Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan, Istvan Wenzel. “Close interaction of the state, NGOs, business structures is important in addressing social and economic issues, observance of human rights.”

As emphasized by participants of the round-table, during the years of independence Uzbekistan has established a solid legal framework of the partnership. Over 30 laws and regulations were adopted governing this area, which helps speed up the process of democratization and development of civil society and our country’s integration into the global community.

According to the director of the National Human Rights Center of Uzbekistan Akmal Saidov, during the years of independence, our country has formed a national model of social partnership. In our conditions, the state is the initiator of the partnership, creating their legal basis and support for its development.

During the workshop presentations on issues of partnership in the spheres of the socio-economic programs, labor relations, education and legal literacy of the population, the cooperation of the Ombudsman with governmental and nongovernmental organizations were presented.