Mr. Speaker, Honourable Mr. Mosé Tjitendero,
Mr. Prime Minister, Honourable Hage Geingob,
Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, Honourable Reverend Dr. Hendrik Witbooi,
Mr. Leader of the Opposition, Honourable Katuutire Kaura,
Honourable Members of the Cabinet,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Honourable Guests,

This morning, I addressed the Labour and Social Affairs Commission of the Organization of African Unity - let me share with you how I began my statement.

I said, "I am in Windhoek, in Namibia - a country whose struggle for freedom and independence wrote one of the most forceful pages in the history of African liberation movements. President Nujoma, permit me to honour in your person the leadership, the courage, and the conviction of the people of Namibia who never wavered in their chosen path to dignity. Permit me also to honour you - for your wisdom, for your country's wisdom, for your people's decision that from 21^st March 1990 onward you would begin the reconstruction of a democratic nation based on the rule of law and the respect for multi-cultural and multi-ethnic societies. Together, you have shown to the world - which needs it so much in these tragic days - that different people, with a past of confrontation, can live together, that reconciliation can be progressively achieved and that the human spirit can grow if given a chance to do so.

I was here on that historic day of 21^st March. I was in the stadium with tears in my eyes as the Namibian flag slowly went up to join the United Nations flag. I was here as the new Ambassador of Chile to the United Nations: only ten days before my own country had recovered democracy, a freely elected President had been sworn in and we had begun to leave behind the tortuous history of authoritarianism. I was proud to be here. I am proud of having been here.

So here I am again some nine years later in a different capacity, in a rapidly changing world, but with the same commitment to co-operation with Africa, and an increased respect for what all of you have achieved in Namibia. We know well that peace, stability and a working democracy do not happen on their own. They need conviction and courage, but above all, faith that conflicting interests can be resolved peacefully.

As Members of Parliament you know this is not always easy. But you also know that here and in many other places of the world people are tired of conflict, of death, of violence. They want and deserve a peaceful life, decent work, a family to raise: the basic elements of a dignified existence.

I think that the major challenge the leadership of the world is facing today is the capacity to deliver a life of dignity to everybody, the capacity to implement policies that will empower people to build their own lives, to compete and be creative, and to be proud of their achievements. We need to be capable of changing the conditions under which women and men throughout the world can have a sense of ownership over their own existence.

Clearly, we are not yet there and there are clouds hovering over us and danger on the horizon. The world has forged an unprecedented consensus on the need for open societies and open economies. We have all liberalized and privatized and many benefits have been derived. And yet, at the end of the day, we have not been able to reduce global poverty significantly. A billion people are unemployed or underemployed and inequality has grown, even within developed countries themselves.

We clearly need to put people back into the picture, to judge our policies not only in terms of overall macro-economic results - which is obviously important - but also in terms of their impact on the individual life of women and men and their families. We need a paradigm which will combine economic efficiency and social efficiency at the same time - together - encompassed in the same vision of development. We need to look at society with both eyes. Social development is not an afterthought after economic development has been achieved. In many ways it is a prerequisite, whether we are talking of education and health or training and skills development. social expenditures are not costs, they are investments that ultimately increase productivity and economic performance.

All of this has become painfully clear with the Asian crisis, the situation of some transition economies and the turbulence in Latin America. Already in 1995, these issues had been highlighted as the principal conclusion of the World Summit on Social Development. Since then, consciousness has grown and we now hear important voices in the developed world that call for the need to put a human face on the global economy.

I agree, I have agreed for a long time.

I intend to put the ILO at the service of that cause. We need to put a social pillar under the global economy, but to do so we need political leadership. The type of leadership that you have collectively given to Namibia in navigating through the complex waters of political reconciliation.

Let me share with you some thoughts from an ILO perspective on how one might move forward.

All over the world, democratic parliaments are considered by the ILO as strategic allies in the pursuit of our common objectives of peace and democracy, in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, through the process of ratification of conventions.

For this reason, but also in view of Namibia's exceptional history and the particular circumstances of its admission to the ILO, I feel particularly proud to address your Parliament today.

Indeed, our relationship with Namibia predates its independence. It started when the ILO forged a mutual cooperative arrangement with the South-West African People's Organization (SWAPO) to fight for a lasting political change in the then South African occupied territory of South West Africa. This was part of the general ILO assistance to the national liberation movements of Southern Africa in their fight for political freedom, self-determination, and social justice.

On 3^rd October 1978, Namibia was officially admitted to the ILO as the 136th "member State". It was the United Nations Council for Namibia (UNCN) which had requested Namibia's admission to the ILO as a full member. This was quite an unusual member, as its territory did not, at that time, constitute an independent state. This is a clear demonstration of the commitment of our Organization in supporting the just aspirations of a people in line with the tenets of social justice we hold so dear.

Today, as Namibia moves towards the tenth year of its independence, I would like to salute your remarkable achievements as a nation in such a short time. Article 95 (d) of your 1990 Constitution provides that your State shall actively promote and maintain the welfare of the people by adopting, inter alia, and where possible, policies aimed at adhering to and acting in accordance with the international conventions and recommendations of the ILO.  We feel honoured that the ILO is mentioned by name in this manner in your Constitution.

Democracy and the rule of law, are essential to promoting the ideals, objectives and standard-setting activities of the ILO. Parliamentary institutions have therefore the crucial responsibility to ensure the implementation of the international labour standards through the ratification process.

In April last year, the 99th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was held in Windhoek. In that connection, I am pleased to inform you that our Governing Body last month approved the text of an important agreement between the IPU and the ILO. This agreement provides that the two organizations are to offer appropriate assistance to each other, in particular with regard to the promotion and implementation of fundamental principles and rights at work, as set out in the ILO Constitution and in the Declaration of Philadelphia, and as restated in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, seeing them as an essential factor of parliamentary democracy and development.

I have always been convinced that social development should be the concern of all. Allow me to emphasize that promoting and maintaining the welfare of the people cannot be dealt with usefully without the combined efforts of governments, labour, business, political parties, social leaders and NGOs.

In order to succeed in that endeavour, we all need to look beyond the short-term. Governments and parliaments need to look beyond the next election. Employers need to look beyond the next balance sheet. Workers need to look beyond the next collective bargaining agreement. If we all set our sights yonder, then maybe - just maybe - we might make a breakthrough towards greater stability for all.

Indeed, one cannot legislate employment in and poverty out. This is a long and complex process because all components of society must move together in harmony. History demonstrates that the individual is more creative than the state, but that the state normally has a better sense of the collective need than the individual has. Hence, they have two complementary roles to play. A great deal of progress can be made on the basis of action by the private sector, non-governmental organizations, religious denominations, trade unions, universities and civil society at large. They must set themselves the challenge of contributing, each in their own way, to social welfare. It is essential to make the social challenge a national challenge, to achieve wide-ranging consensus regarding its priority, and to offer from within each society, a horizon of hope for the dispossessed.

In that context, governments, employers, and workers have a tripartite responsibility to define a positive consensus in the social field. Such a consensus entails - as I have said - that investment in people is not a cost to society but one of its most remunerative investments; that equity and social justice do not hamper growth but stimulate it; that equality of opportunity is a human right and not a concession to be dispensed by the powerful; and that the state and the market are both essential to address social needs.

I am of the opinion that the ILO has therefore a comparative advantage in being not only a common forum, but an organization committed to assisting member States in addressing those issues in order to contribute to better governance and greater social stability.

I have proposed to focus our Programme and Budget for 2000-01 on four strategic objectives, namely fundamental principles and rights at work, decent employment, social protection, and strengthening tripartism and social dialogue.

In implementing these objectives, the ILO will mainstream gender in all aspects of its work, thus substantially increasing the potential of its activities to promote equitable development.

As I stated on 22 March 1999, when I formally took my oath as the ninth Director-General of the ILO, and its first Director-General coming from the developing world, I feel a personal responsibility to ensure that the development dimension is integral to all ILO activities. Therefore, finding solutions to such problems as unemployment, poverty, gender discrimination, child labour and inadequate social protection will be central to my mandate. I am convinced that the central purpose of the ILO today is to promote opportunities of decent work for all people.

In that connection, the ILO efforts need to be fully geared towards supporting its tripartite Constituents in the design and implementation of policies to enhance job creation through enterprise development, to promote the quality of jobs, to seriously address the informal sector by enhancing its productivity and working conditions, and to upgrade skills and employability.

The counterpart to economic adjustment should be the commitment to develop innovative social protection alternatives. Social development must be understood as a positive contribution to the production process.

In contrast to the view that national approaches are powerless in the face of globalization, I think that national policies and democratic institutions can have a bearing on the relationship between globalization and social progress. There is indeed scope for strategic and concerted actions in this field.

In this connection, I think that well conceived national policies and legislation can contribute to making social policy a productive factor, and they can therefore provide a meaningful contribution towards a more profitable integration into the global economy, through labour regulations that combine the need for economic adaptability with that of social protection.

The right to organize and bargain collectively is an essential element for success in the global economy. Employers' and workers' organizations, collective bargaining and tripartite dialogue are necessary elements for developing an environment that ensures social stability, encourages higher productivity and attracts investment.

The ILO therefore has a unique role to play in the development process through its assistance in strengthening the institutional capacity of its tripartite Constituents, and can contribute to the promotion of social dialogue and consensus building which are critical for political stability.

In all these areas, our tripartite Constituents in Namibia are aware that they may ask for our technical cooperation and they can remain assured that we are committed to making every effort to provide appropriate assistance.

I am happy here to be able to recall a few aspects of the cooperation between the ILO and Namibia since 1990. This technical assistance has included, among others, the following:

• socio-economic integration programmes for ex-combatants;
• a reordering of labour relations through the promulgation and implementation of a labour relations act, and adoption of international labour standards;
• promoting and maximizing productive employment to alleviate unemployment and reduce poverty through employment policy formulation and implementation;
• improving working conditions through training in occupational safety and health systems;
and,
• establishment of and support to a social security system.

One of the major activities that Namibia and the ILO have been pursuing together relates to affirmative action. With generous funding from Norway, the ILO has assisted the Namibian Government to design legislation for affirmative action for the employment of the disadvantaged. We were very proud to learn of the adoption of the affirmative action (employment) act by this august body last year.

Currently, the ILO is implementing an important Swiss-funded pilot project to promote labour peace and stability in Southern Africa. Over the past year, the project has been working with a high level task team in Namibia to review the legal framework for labour.

Today, as the challenge of decent employment underscores the importance of basic rights at work, I sincerely hope that we will be able to increase our mutual cooperation in this important area. The International Labour Conference adopted last June, in Geneva, the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up.

This Declaration states that all members, even if they have not ratified the conventions identified, have an obligation, arising from the very fact of membership in the organization, to respect, to promote and to realize these principles:

• freedom of association and effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
• the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour;
• the effective abolition of child labour; and,
• the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

The ILO has the obligation to assist its members in attaining the objectives of the Declaration by asking full use of its constitutional, operational and budgetary resources. in line with the provision of article 95 (d) of your Constitution, I am confident that we will succeed in moving forward with Namibia to breathe life into this new instrument and that your honourable institution will be a key partner in shaping the implementation of the Declaration as an inspiring document that underpins the economic and social development of your country.

I deem it a great honour to have been afforded the opportunity to address you today. As I embark on my duties as Director-General of the ILO, and as I reach out for partnerships which will ensure a successful tenure, I hope that I can count on your good will in what I consider our joint endeavour to improve the condition of all people in the new millenium.