On June 5, this year, the first meeting was held (in the format of a videoconference) within the framework of the Joint UN program to strengthen social protection in Uzbekistan. The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of employment and labor relations, the Ministry of finance, the Ministry of economic development and poverty reduction, the Ministry of mahalla and family support, the Council of the Federation of trade unions, and the Agency for medical and social services. The international community was represented at the meeting by UNICEF, ILO and UNDP.

The joint program to strengthen social protection for 2020-2022 is funded by the Joint Fund for Sustainable development Goals (SDG). The program is aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the social protection system in Uzbekistan, implementing best international practices in the field of protection of vulnerable groups in order to increase the inclusiveness of economic growth, reduce poverty and develop human capital.

Within the framework of the Program, it is planned to develop a National strategy for social protection of the population based on consultations with stakeholders and involvement of citizens, create a mechanism for effective interdepartmental interaction in providing social protection to the population, as well as introduce innovative approaches to providing comprehensive social protection to persons with disabilities.

During the meeting, Deputy Minister of employment and labour relations of the Republic of Uzbekistan N. Yakubov has paid special attention that the development of social protection strategy would be appropriate to consider the active measures of social policy implementation that is planned in the framework of the National employment strategy of Uzbekistan, developed by the Ministry, with the support of ILO.

In addition, N. Yakubov stressed that the draft of the new version of the Law "on employment of the population" and the new version of the Labor code of the Republic of Uzbekistan are currently under approval. These norms of labor legislation have been updated to take into account the fundamental principles and rights in the field of labor and the mechanisms for its implementation.

This working meeting is the first in a series of multilateral negotiations between national partners and UN Agencies in the framework of reforming the social protection system. Further dialogue will continue, taking into account the participants ' proposal to create thematic working groups and subgroups.