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G7 Summit at Schloss Elmau

ILO Director-General welcomes G7 commitment on responsible supply chains

“The ILO will collaborate closely with its constituents and G7 partners to translate this vision into reality,” said Guy Ryder, who was at the G7 Summit in Elmau, Germany.

News | 08 June 2015
ILO Director-General Guy Ryder with German Chancellor Angela Merkel
© German Federal Government
GENEVA – ILO Director-General Guy Ryder has welcomed the G7 leaders’ commitment to promote “labour rights, decent working conditions and environmental protection in global supply chains.”

The ILO Director-General, who attended the G7 Summit in Elmau, Germany, expressed particular satisfaction at the announcement of a G7 initiative to establish a “Vision Zero Fund” in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The purpose of the Fund is to “add value to existing ILO projects with its aim of preventing and reducing workplace-related deaths and serious injuries by strengthening public frameworks and establishing sustainable business practices.”

“Export-oriented industrialization is an important part of the global drive to reduce poverty and inequality and the G7 Vision Zero initiative will play an important catalytic role in making such strategies socially, environmentally and economically sustainable,” said Ryder.

He also noted the strong support of G7 Leaders for an ambitious, people-centred, planet-sensitive and universally applicable Post-2015 Agenda for Sustainable Development. “The ILO will collaborate closely with its constituents and G7 partners to translate this vision into reality,” he added.

In a closely related discussion, G7 leaders concluded that “We will support our partners in developing countries and within our own countries to overcome discrimination, sexual harassment, violence against women and girls and other cultural, social, economic and legal barriers to women’s economic participation.”

Ryder applauded the leadership of Chancellor Merkel in ensuring that promoting women’s economic empowerment was high on the G7 agenda.

In addition to the commitments on responsible supply chains and female participation in employment, the ILO Director-General expressed appreciation for the G7 focus on ensuring substantial progress on climate change and financing for development in 2015.

However, on the ever present issue of the state of the global economy, Ryder said that “global growth was slipping and that unemployment would not be reduced unless new initiatives by the G7 and others were taken to lift low household incomes and boost demand.”