Tashkent hosts roundtable on raising capacity of mass media, NGOs

The organizers said that some 50 journalists and representatives of NGOs participated in the work of the roundtable.

The roundtable participants exchanged opinion on familiarizing public with reforms on forming strong civil society in Uzbekistan, strengthening role and social activities of NGOs and mass media in ensuring openness and transparency of democratic reforms.

The participants considered issues of effective using mass media and internet resources to develop civil society institutes in Uzbekistan, forms of legal and financial support of NGOs and mass media, trends in the sector, etc.

They also discussed testing of the draft law “On openness of activities of state bodies and administration”, which was held in Samarkand and Bukhara regions.

It was noted that testing of the norms of the law is directed at deepening democratic reforms and forming civil society in Uzbekistan, as well as effective implementation of norms of the draft law, which is directed at ensuring openness of state bodies, ensure coverage of their activities in mass media, and participation of the NGOs in decision making process.

The experiment also helped to improve the draft law and create effective mechanisms of its implementation. It was said that the experiment was fruitful and helped to provide information to public on activities of the state bodies.

During the events, the journalists received information of reforms in Uzbekistan in raising role of NGOs and mass media, as well as establish contacts with the representatives of the NGOs. They also considered coverage of the activities of the NGOs in mass media.