Aims and expected outcomes of the meeting

The Forum addressed the broad challenges and opportunities posed by the Asian Decent Work Decade and provided a platform for senior policy-makers and high-level representatives of workers and employers from Asia, to:

• Discuss the growth, employment and decent work scenarios up to 2015 and identify key issues that need to be addressed by member States in the region as they strive to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals. The focus in particular was on policy responses that can strengthen the link between growth and jobs and the role of jobs in poverty reduction;
• Exchange experiences, identify good practices, and stimulate regional and sub regional initiatives to promote employment-friendly strategies and programmes;
• Review strategies for meeting existing commitments in their national contexts, including in the framework of DWCPs;
• Establish an improved knowledge base for promoting patterns of inclusive growth which generate more and better jobs in the region.