Opening Address to the 81st ICFTU-APRO Regional Executive Board Meeting

Mr. Rajasekaran, President of ICFTU-APRO,
Mr. Suzuki, General Secretary,
Distinguished participants.

Allow me to express my sincere thanks for your invitation to attend this 81st Regional Executive Board Meeting. I am particularly glad to be here because I was unable to take part in your Regional Conference this February. My flight came back to the departing airport, , without landing in .

Let me first take this opportunity to congratulate your President and General Secretary on their election. The ILO’s Regional Office for Asia-Pacific and ICFTU-APRO have enjoyed a good and productive relationship in general, and in particular with the Workers’ Activities Bureau (ACTRAV). We look forward to maintaining this fruitful collaboration under your continued leadership.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a tragic fact that this year our region has suffered a series of major natural disasters. Our sincere condolences go to all those affected. The ILO, like the rest of the global community, stands ready to assist these families and communities rebuild their livelihoods.

The recent earthquake in alone has resulted in the loss of more than 1.1 million jobs. The poverty of many millions of other people has been made worse by the quake damage. Productive and labour intensive job creation programmes are urgently needed to help these people.

The effects of the Tsunami disaster also continue to be felt by millions. I would like to take this opportunity to express the ILO’s gratitude for the generous support of ICFTU-APRO for the disaster response work in and . Vocational training will begin shortly.

As well as responding to these tragedies our work has made progress in other areas. For example in promoting Decent Work in Asia Pacific. The Decent Work Agenda has now been incorporated into the national development agendas of a growing number of countries.

Yet, much remains to be done.

It was this region that introduced National Plans of Action to promote Decent Work in the conclusion of the 13th Asian Regional Meeting. In many countries in this region, National Plans of Action have been made with tripartite constituents. We are developing Decent Work Country Programme for the ILO activities for the next few years.

ILO programmes will carry on its work in dealing with regional priority issues such as workers’ rights, migration, youth employment as well as competitiveness and productivity. Your engagement is essential in all. For example, your involvement in the education and training policy-making will allow workers to truly benefit from the increasingly globalised economy. Increase in the union membership amongst young workers allows their interest to be heard. Through it, they will become better integrated into the labour market.

Let me say that the ILO can never meet these challenges alone. Partnership with workers, employers and governments, and other relevant stakeholders, is crucial. It is indeed through consultation with you that decides the composition of our programmes.

Lastly, I’d like to touch on the importance of our commitment to respect and promote fundamental principles and rights at work, especially in this era of globalisation.

Core labour standards have become increasingly important as they constitute “fair rules” governing global competition, trade, investment and labour migration. It is also about democracy, respect for the rule of law and giving people a say in decisions that affect their lives.

In this regard, we must continue to promote further ratification of the ILO Conventions. Today, and the Pacific region still has the lowest average number of ratification per country in the world. Of the four areas of fundamental labour standards, the most worrying situation is in the field of freedom of association. As of May 2005, only 13 out of 29 countries in the region have ratified Convention 87 and 98 on the freedom of association and collective bargaining. It is our goal that all member states ratify the core conventions including these, and to work towards full implementation.

The ILO, through ACTRAV, will continue to support capacity building of trade unions to participate in tripartite structures at national levels and to promote collective bargaining at workplace levels.

The Asian Regional Meeting next year will provide a good opportunity for the ILO and the tripartite constituents to discuss these important issues and to agree on a strategy to move forward. It is your voice that will shape the ILO’s work in this region in the coming years. We look forward to continuing to work with you to make Decent Work an Asian Goal.