There were about 200 participants at the forum, including ILO tripartite constituents, programme partners, UN and international organizations, civil society, journalists and academia. There were six speakers at the event which was followed by a Q & A session. The speakers included:

• Honorable Minister of Labour and Employment
• UN Resident Coordinator
• ILO Director Dhaka
• Representative from the Bangladesh Employers’ Federation
• Representative from NCCWE (representing trade union federations)
• A guest speaker presented the keynote paper on “Social Dialogue and Decent Work: Our Challenges”

The forum was moderated by a senior journalist. Its focus was employment challenges in Bangladesh, role of social partners (i.e. government, employers and workers) and the social dialogue as a means to addressing the challenges.

The ILO will complete its 36 years in the country. It hopes to learn from the past and to move forward with its decent work agenda. The ILO expects that its tripartite constituents and social partners will take the lead in the going forward with the lessons of the anniversary, examining the lessons learnt, and identifying the challenges for the future.