Uzbekistan: advancing decent work through the positive contribution of trade, investment and sustainable enterprises

This workshop came at a crucial time as Uzbekistan advances its ambitious agenda for social, and environmental reforms while aiming to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and become part of the global economy to bolster economic growth and competitiveness.

In his opening remarks, Umurzakov Bahodir, Advisor to the Minister of Employment and Poverty Reduction, emphasized that trade, investment and sustainable enterprises can bring significant benefits to Uzbekistan by creating new decent work opportunities, enhancing productivity and improving access to technologies. However, achieving these positive outcomes requires targeted policies and measures.

This was complemented by the introductory remarks of Mikhail Pouchkin, Director of the Decent Work Technical Support Team and Country Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He highlighted the important transformations Uzbekistan has embarked on and the relevance of the ILO MNE Declaration in this regard providing a tripartite agreed policy framework to maximize the positive contribution of trade and investment as well as enterprises – multinational and national – to socio-economic development and decent work for all and minimize and resolve challenges arising from business operations.

By bringing together representatives of the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction, the Uzbekistan Investment Promotion Agency, the Confederation of Employers of Uzbekistan and the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan, the workshop fostered a dialogue between these actors. The event promoted the whole-of-government approach to stimulate the positive impact of FDI and trade for decent work in Uzbekistan, based on the guidance of the ILO MNE Declaration.
 

The participants explored the role of government and social partners in creating an enabling environment to unlock the economic and employment potential of FDI, trade and sustainable enterprise development to accelerate their contribution to the social and decent work objectives enshrined in the New Uzbekistan Development Strategy (2022-2026) and the country Roadmap for the Global Accelerator for Jobs and Social Protection. This includes transition to the formal economy, green initiatives, digital transformation, and social inclusion. Discussions also covered the private sector's role in supporting the transition to an environmentally sustainable economy, the creation of safe and healthy workplaces in light of climate change impacts, along with insights from the Better Work programme's engagement at the enterprise level in Uzbekistan.

Participants developed a roadmap in which they identified several entry points for the promotion of responsible business conduct and suggested concrete follow-up activities. These include amongst others, raising awareness and building the capacity of constituents and other stakeholders on the guidance of the MNE Declaration to promote coherence between economic and social policies, convening national dialogues to facilitate the positive contribution of enterprises to effective skills development and a just transition, and developing tools and resources to support the uptake of the principles of the ILO MNE Declaration, particularly in the areas of creating safe and healthy working environments and promoting gender equality.
 

The workshop was carried out with the support of the Multinational Enterprises and Responsible Business Conduct Unit of the ILO and the ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team and Country Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.