First Technical Cooperation Programme to Be Signed in Armenia

Aghvan Vardanyan and Pauline Barrett-Reid: a handshake after negotiations ILO publications evoked keen interest A visit to a food processing factory A final press conference

An agreement on this was reached during the visit to Armenia of the ILO mission headed by Pauline Barrett-Reid, ILO Moscow Office Director.

‘This mission is particularly important in view of the recent ILO initiatives related to the social dimension of globalization’, said Aghvan Vardanyan, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Armenia. He strongly supported the conclusions of the ILO Report ‘Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All’ prepared by the Global Commission on Social Dimension on Globalization*.
In order to start a national dialogue on the globalization issues, the Ministry organized on 28 September a Tripartite Meeting on Decent Work for Poverty Reduction in a Globalizing World. Among the participants were leaders of the social partners, Government officials, representatives of the international organizations and the civil society, prominent researchers. The ILO team took an active psrt in the discussion.
In the course of the mission Pauline Barrett-Reid was invited to participate in the sitting of the Constitutional Court devoted to the ratification by Armenia of five ILO Conventions. As of today the country has initiated the ratification of 21 core ILO instruments. The Government has requested the ILO assistance in capacity building for the implementation of the Conventions. The main national labour law – Labour Code – was ratified by the National Assembly in the second reading.
Another important initiative is the creation of the Labour Inspection. Its work will be regulated by a special law which currently under elaboration.
Social dialogue took special place during the meetings in Yerevan. Both social partners and the Government agreed that all questions related to the world of work need to be addressed on a tripartite basis. The first step will be the creation of a Tripartite Commission.
First of all the tripartite approac will be applied in the preparation of the first Technical Cooperation Programme for Armenia. The Government has already signaled three key priorities for the work with the ILO to be included in the Programme. According to the Minister of Labour, they are: labour market analysis; training of the unemployed in order to integrate them on the labour market, and; further development of the Labour Inspection.
It is planned to sign the Technical Cooperation Programme in the end of November this year. On the same dates the ILO will launch in Yerevan its new Dutch-funded project on increasing employability of disadvantaged men and women.
*For more information see here