The purpose of the Forum was to examine current and future skills needs in the commerce sector as a basis for designing skills development strategies and vocational education programmes for workers to support their employment prospects and employability, and to improve business productivity and competitiveness. The meeting continued and elaborated on discussions already undertaken in previous sectoral meetings on this subject.

It was attended by 47 government, employers’ and workers’ representatives. Representatives from international non-governmental organizations also attended as observers.