The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Government of Singapore on Monday renewed their partnership agreement to promote decent work in Southeast Asia.
Mr Aubeck Kam, the Permanent Secretary, Singapore Ministry of Manpower and Ms Tomoko Nishimoto, ILO’s Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific signed the agreement for Singapore and ILO respectively.
The agreement was signed at the ongoing 105th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Nishimoto said that under the agreement, ILO and the Singapore Ministry of Manpower would work together on activities related to occupational safety
and health, tripartism and social dialogue.
She added that the proposed activities include preparation and development of statistics and new data collection methods for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH).
“Another activity is a regional workshop on OSH and social dialogue, and the organisation of the XXI World Congress on Safety, currently scheduled to be held in September 2017 in Singapore.
“It will also support the work of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
“The goals of the renewed partnership agreement are also in line with ILO’s agenda of promoting decent work for all.
“It was finalised in consultation with workers and employers organisations of Singapore.”
Nishimoto also said that the partnership agreement would strengthen the ability of ASEAN countries to promote the “Decent Work Agenda’’ and anchor Decent Work into the ASEAN regional integration process.
She added that “by working together like this, we can contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
“In particular, the achievement of SDG 8 which focuses on the promotion of sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
“We are indeed delighted that Singapore has renewed the partnership.”
On his part, Mr Kam said the renewal of the agreement would reflect Singapore’s continued commitment to work with the ILO and other ASEAN countries.
He added that the partnership would improve labour and workplace practices in the Southeast Asian region.
“The partnership agreement that we are signing today will strengthen the ability of the ASEAN countries to promote the Decent Work Agenda,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Partnership Agreement between the ILO and the Singapore Ministry of Manpower was first signed in 2011 and renewed in 2014.
NAN also reports that activities already organised through the agreement include technical cooperation to improve occupational safety and health in Brunei and workshop on resolving employment disputes for ASEAN countries.
Others are Singapore-Norway Third Country Training Programme on Decent Work Agenda, training-of-trainers workshop on Risk Assessment and Control and Management in the Philippines, among others.