The 24th ASEAN Labor Ministers Meeting (ALMM 24) convened in Vientiane on May 15 with a focus on creating sustainable jobs and a competitive workforce in the ASEAN Community.
 |
|
The opening ceremony of the 24th ASEAN Labor Ministers Meeting, Vientiane, May 15, 2016 |
Under the theme of “Transition from Informal Employment to Formal Employment Towards Decent Work Promotion in ASEAN”, participants reiterated commitment to realizing the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the ASEAN Socio-cultural Community Blueprint 2025, of which developing a competitive workforce and improving social security is among key tasks.
The ministers approved the ASEAN Labor Ministers (ALM) Work Program for 2016-2020 and action plans of the Working Group on Progressive Labor Practices to Enhance the Competitiveness of ASEAN (SLOM-WG), the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (ACMW), and the ASEAN Occupational Safety and Health Network (OSHNET).
Those program and plans are expected to lay the foundation for regional human resources cooperation throughout the five-year period.
At the same time, ASEAN labor ministers took note of the importance of protecting the rights of migrant workers in the region while taking into account difficulties in drafting relevant documents due to different views of bloc members.
They urged the drafting board to complete negotiations as soon as possible so that it can be submitted to the ministers and subsequently to high-ranking leaders for approval and signing by April 2017 at the latest.
In the afternoon, the ministers adopted the Vientiane Declaration on Transition from Informal Employment to Formal Employment towards Decent Work Promotion in ASEAN and the ALMM 24 joint communique.
They agreed to convene their next meeting in Singapore in 2018
Attending the event, Vietnamese Minister of Labors, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung highlighted the country’s commitment to boosting cooperation among ASEAN members in protecting migrant workers’ rights and interests and improving competitive edge of the bloc’s work force./.