South-South Cooperation

ILO-ACTRAV sign agreement with All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU)

Press release | 27 March 2014
ACFTU Vice-President Jiang Guangping and Maria Helena Andre, Director of ACTRAV
GENEVA (ACTRAV INFO)-The ILO’s Bureau for Workers Activities (ILO-ACTRAV) and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) here today to promote Trade unions South-South Cooperation in the Asia- Pacific region.

The agreement establishes joint priorities cooperation between ILO-ACTRAV and ACFTU with a view to strengthening the technical capacities of union leaders and activists in the Asia- Pacific region for developing effective trade union policies and strategies on protecting and promoting fundamental rights of their members. The agreement further underlines the need to enhance the capacities of trade unions to negotiate and bargain collectively, participate in national development efforts, and other related skills. Finally, it reinforces communication between ACFTU and trade union organizations outside China through sharing of information and experiences in selected subject areas.

According to ILO Director- General Guy Ryder, “South-South Cooperation is becoming increasingly important in the technical cooperation portfolio at the ILO. We have to develop it, and this memorandum is one way to do so,” he said. According to Ryder, the MOU represents a “further consolidation of cooperation between the ILO as an Organization and its Chinese constituents”.

The ILO Director-General appreciated strong cooperation between ACFTU and the international trade union movement. “We need to find a way which so that the ACFTU can work more closely with other parts of the international trade union movement, sharing common objectives,” Ryder concluded.


Mr Jiang Guangping, Vice-president of ACFTU, underlined the need to consolidate cooperation between ACFTU and the ILO.

“On behalf of ACFTU, we reiterate our joint efforts to work with ILO/ACTRAV, the ILO-Regional Office for Asia and Pacific to enhance the capacity building of the unions in this region and to promote ILO’s mandate among workers in the region,” Mr. Jiang said. He welcomed the agreement as ”a great achievement for the cooperation between ACFTU and ILO-ACTRAV”.

ACTRAV Director Maria Helena Andre stressed the importance of South-South cooperation to reinforce Trade unions in their struggle against inequality and workers’ rights violations in the Asia- Pacific Region.
“This MOU promotes a South-South cooperation project which is very important to strengthen the capacity of Trade Unions in the Asia- Pacific Region which is a not only a region with fast economic growth but also one with growing inequality and attacks on workers’ rights,” she said.

“It is our joint responsibility to make sure that in this region, trade unions are contributing in a positive way to the shaping of economic and social development models. We are convinced that this will not happen without strong trade union organisations being able to bargain collectively and negotiate with their respective governments to promote good working conditions, protect workers’ rights and promote the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda,” concluded Andre.

The agreement includes the implementation of nine regional programmes until February 2016.


For more information, please contact:

Mamadou Kaba Souare, Communications Officer, ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities- Geneva,
+41 22 799 74 08, souare@ilo.org