PORT OF SPAIN (ILO News) - Mr. Guy Ryder, ILO’s Director-General, will attend the 8th ILO Meeting of Caribbean Labour Ministers to be held from 2-3 July 2013, at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The theme of the two-day meeting is “The Caribbean and Labour 2013 and Beyond - Strengthening Decent Work for Development”, and is being organized by the ILO in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Director-General will address the Opening Ceremony of the Meeting, along with the Hon. Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Hon. Minister of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Development, Errol McLeod, and the CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin La Rocque. The ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Ms. Elizabeth Tinoco, will also be in attendance.

During his visit, the ILO Director-General is also expected to attend a breakfast meeting of the tripartite partners from the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC), the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL), and Ministers of Labour of the Caribbean.

The Meeting will provide an opportunity for delegates to take a position on critical issues related to employment and labour in the Caribbean and to have a discourse on:

• Decent Work for Development;
• The Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda: ILO’s strategy for the adoption of full and productive employment and decent work as an explicit goal of the global Development agenda beyond 2015;
• International and regional meetings;
• The 102nd Session of the ILC, 2013 and preparation for ILC 2014;
• Labour migration, labour market information system, and policy coherence.

Note for the Media

For further information, interview request and photo-ups, please contact:

Patricia Hackett and Averlon Toussaint
ILO Office for the Caribbean
6 Stanmore Avenue, Port of Spain
Phone +868-625-0524
Fax: +868-627-8978