The role of social partner organizations in vocational education and training (VET) has been compared for Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. In these countries, a system of industrial relations comparable to those existing in western Europe is emerging gradually. Social partnership consists of negotiations between employers' and workers' organizations at different levels. It occurs mainly within tripartite bodies, consisting of government, employer, and employee representatives. A framework of social dialogue has been laid down in most countries and regulates the activities of and interaction between the social partners. In most countries, social partners' participation in the VET system has been established by law that provides for their involvement in initial vocational education at the national level. Themes of the social dialogue include allocating financial resources, developing training and qualification standards, linking training institutions with enterprises, and identifying skill needs and planning training. Ways to develop VET are enhanced interaction between VET and needs of the labor market and economic policy, national measures to develop and manage the VET system, increased participation of social partners in training development, and connection between training and the initial VET system. (The second part of the report contains country summaries that offer an outline of the most important features of the respective national developments.) (YLB)