Joining the forum are 33 representatives from government, workers and employers' organizations from Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, Kiribati, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Vanuatu as well as a number of observers.

The forum will focus on major issues which need to be addressed jointly by the ILO and its constituents. Among them are the need for better social protection for workers and their families, increasing unemployment, widening informal economic activities and the impact of globalization. The forum will also review ILO's response to disasters in the subregion, both the tsunami and new kinds of emergencies such as HIV/AIDS, which affect jobs and livelihoods of people.

Mr. Werner Konrad Blenk, ILO Subregional Director for South-East Asia and the Pacific said, "Our meeting will be action-oriented. We want to achieve concrete results. The forum is expected to produce practical conclusions to guide our work. This will help us allocate our resources in the most strategic and efficient manner, with a view to expanding our technical cooperation in the countries of the subregion."

A Special Session for new ILO members - Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Vanuatu will be held on 4 April 2005 to give the delegates a chance to learn more about the ILO and empower them to make use of the full range of ILO services.