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Mr. Vice Minister.
Mr. Assistant Minister.
Distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
It is my great pleasure to be here this morning to take part in this
wrap-up meeting for the Project on Strategic Approaches towards Employment
Promotion; better known as ‘ILO/PEP’.
First of all, let me start by congratulating all of you on the remarkable
success of this project. Without your contributions and teamwork we would
not be celebrating here today. Your efforts have helped many laid-off
workers find productive employment.
This project can claim two major achievements. The first is in job
creation, the second in private sector development.
Because of this project people who have been laid off have realized their
potential to become entrepreneurs. They can create jobs for themselves. In
addition, when they opened their businesses, they have become employers
and created jobs for others.
Small enterprises are really the engines of the economy. They may start
out small and fragile, but many of today’s large enterprises started
like this. What’s important is to create the environment that small
enterprises need to grow. That’s done by adopting the right policies and
providing the right support services.
I know this because I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Last year I had a
chance to visit the project activities in Baotou. I met
the project officials and also some of the micro-entrepreneurs supported
by the project. And I’m particularly glad to see that some of those I
spoke to then are here today.
I particularly remember talking to one woman entrepreneur. She explained
how devastated she felt when she was laid off. How difficult it was for her to develop her food products business. The obstacles she had to
overcome to stay in business and to keep on supporting her family.
But now she employs a dozen people, most of whom were also laid-off
workers. She told me how the PEP project helped her to develop her
management skills and get access to financial resources. She described the
project to me as a “ray of hope”.
This is one small success. But it’s not enough.
We know that many people in China
are
still waiting for the opportunities this woman benefited from in
Baotou. So I
appreciate very much the efforts of the Ministry of Labour and Social
Security to replicate this project model in other cities. The good news is
that the success of “Start Your Business” training in the PEP project
has been succeeded by the SIYB project, which the British Government began
financing in 2004.
The Government of China has also adopted a policy to establish Credit
Guarantee Funds in cities around the country. This will help laid-off
workers get access to bank loans to develop their businesses.
Creating more and better jobs in China
is a
challenge. In April 2004, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, in
collaboration with the ILO, organized the China Employment Forum in Beijing. Many of
the discussions at the forum focused on the promotion of Decent Work. For
small enterprise development, Recommendation 189, adopted by the
International Labour Conference in 1998, sets out the basis of our
arguments. We stressed the importance of providing working women and men
with rights at work and security, while ensuring commercial laws and
regulations do not inhibit the growth of new businesses.
The existence of a well-trained and committed labour force is essential
for any business if it is to achieve long-term economic success. It
enhances productivity and improves competitiveness. But such a labour
force is sustainable only if it enjoys fundamental rights at work,
including social protection and representation.
It is because of this that the ILO regards Decent Work as a
necessary component of enterprise development.
The ILO is a knowledge-based organization. We have many tools like the SYB
training. We also have a worldwide network of technical staff. Through
this network we circulate and exchange the latest technical information.
We also offer continuous support services to our constituents, to help
them make the best use of these tools.
In closing I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the
Government of Japan for its generous support of this project. We are now
in the process of preparing for the new PEP project, which will capitalize
on the experiences gained in China. At the
same time, we will continue to supply technical follow-up services to
support what has been achieved through the ILO/PEP in China.
I am confident that this meeting will allow us to consolidate the
experiences from this project and agree upon the right strategy for the
follow-up arrangements.
Thank you.
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