At the invitation of the Moroccan Minister for Relations with Parliament and civil society, Mr. El Habib Choubani, the Croatian delegation led by the Director of the Office for Cooperation with NGOs, Mr. Igor Vidacak, took part in an international conference on the legal and institutional experiences of participatory democracy held in Rabat, from 13 to 14 March 2015. The conference was organized on the occasion of the National Day of Civil Society in the Kingdom of Morocco, that marked succesfull completion of the one year long National Dialogue with Civil Society dedicated to the development of more advanced legal framework for State-civil society relations in Morocco, in accordance with the Constitutional reforms in 2011.
This visit marks the continuation of bilateral cooperation between Croatian Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs and the Moroccan Ministry for Relations with Parliament and Civil society, in the area of creating more enabling environment for civil society development in both countries.
After a successful study visit to Croatia organized for representatives of the Moroccan Ministry for Relations with Parliament and Civil Society and members of the National Commission for Dialogue with Civil society in May 2014, this visit to Morocco enabled a more advanced exchange of experience with a number of Moroccan State authorities and civil society organisations about the major challenges in strengthening State-civil society cooperation.
The conference held in premises of ISESCO brought together more than three hundred representatives of the Moroccan government bodies and civil society organizations. The director Igor Vidacak presented the progress made by Croatia in the last two decades with regard to building more enabling legal, institutional and financial framework to support the development of civil society. He set out the main guidelines of Croatian National Strategy for Creating an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development as well as key standards of consultation with the interested public in shaping public policies.
Croatian Ambassador to Morocco, Mr. Zvonimir Frka Petešić, pointed out a very advanced status of the Islamic community in Croatia, and a widely recognized model of integration of Islam in Croatian society, rather unique among European Union Member States.
During the visit, the Minister El Habib Choubani and the Director Igor Vidacak held a working meeting which provided an opportunity to agree on more concrete measures of future long-term cooperation among Croatian Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs and Moroccan Ministry for Relations with Parliament and Civil Society.
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