Speech at The 20th ASEAN Labour Ministers' Meeting
Mr Gan Kim Yong, Acting Minister for Manpower, Grand Hyatt Erawan, Bangkok, Thailand
Your Excellency, Mrs Uraiwan Thienthong, Minister of Labour, Thailand,
His Excellency, Mr Nguyen Thanh Hoa, Vice-minister of Labour, Vietnam,
His Excellency, Mr Nicholas Dammen, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN,
Fellow Labour Ministers,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Introduction
A very good morning to all of you. On behalf of the Singapore delegation, let me first thank the Government and people of the Kingdom of Thailand for hosting the 20th ASEAN Labour Ministers' Meeting and for the generous hospitality that has been extended to us.
Progress in ASEAN
2. Secondly, on behalf of the people of Singapore, I express my sympathies to the government of Myanmar for the recent cyclone catastrophe. It is our hope the disaster can be controlled and that there will be speedy recovery.
3. There have been several major developments within ASEAN since the 19th ASEAN Labour Ministers' Meeting held in Singapore in May 2006. Of particular significance is the landmark adoption of the ASEAN Charter by ASEAN Leaders at the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore last November. The ASEAN Charter establishes the legal and institutional framework of ASEAN, and puts ASEAN in a better position to meet the challenges and demands of the 21st century. Six countries, including Singapore, have so far ratified the ASEAN Charter.
4. Other notable developments include the signing of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint at the Singapore Summit in November 2007, and the adoption of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers at the Cebu Summit in January 2007.
Progress within ALMM Process
5. The various ASEAN projects have similarly made good progress over the past two years. Let me briefly highlight some of the projects.
Ad-Hoc Working Group on Progressive Labour Practices to Enhance Competitiveness in ASEAN
6. The 19th ASEAN Labour Ministers' Meeting agreed to convene an Ad-Hoc Working Group on Progressive Labour Practices to Enhance Competitiveness in ASEAN. The Working Group, chaired by Singapore, looks into the ways ASEAN could make its labour markets more flexible to facilitate economic growth and job creation. I am pleased to report that it has made good progress in the six priority projects identified. The ASEAN Forum on Migrant Labour, organised by the Philippines was held on 24-25 April 2008 to discuss how to follow up on the ASEAN Declaration on the Rights of Migrant Workers. The Mercer study commissioned by Singapore on "Progressive Labour Practices to Enhance the Competitiveness of ASEAN" has been completed and the findings would be useful when we review our labour practices to become more progressive. The ASEAN Human Resource Summit will be hosted by Singapore on 22 October this year. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of you to participate in this summit.
7. The Working Group has fostered strong teamwork, understanding and collaboration among ASEAN labour officials, which has been invaluable to the progress in the various projects. I am heartened to learn that the Ad-Hoc Working Group has proposed to formalise the current arrangement to become a permanent Working Group reporting to the Senior Labour Officials' Meeting. I fully support this initiative, and I am confident that the Working Group would become an important forum for furthering progressive labour and employment practices in ASEAN.
ASEAN Policy Dialogue on National Occupational Safety and Health Frameworks
8. The 19th ASEAN Labour Ministers' Meeting had also decided to include the "Strengthening of Occupational Safety and Health Capacities and Standards in ASEAN", as a priority area under the ASEAN Labour Ministers' work programme. To support this, Singapore organised the "ASEAN Policy Dialogue on National Occupational Safety and Health Frameworks" in January 2007, where a Plan of Action was made to develop National Occupational Safety and Health Frameworks in ASEAN. This was subsequently endorsed by the Senior Labour Officials in May 2007. The Plan of Action represents an important step forward, as we now have a common framework to enhance ASEAN's Occupational Safety and Health standards, for the betterment of all workers in ASEAN. Singapore is pleased to share our experiences in Occupational Safety and Health, as we had previously done through the training workshops we conducted for safety inspectors in some member countries, under the auspices of the ASEAN OSHNET. Through these workshops, we have successfully trained 64 inspectors from these countries in the past two years.
ILO Titular Membership
9. Over the years, the International Labour Organisation, or ILO, and ASEAN have been cooperating in many areas of mutual interest such as occupational safety and health, industrial relations and vocational training. Such cooperation is expected to intensify following the signing of the ASEAN-ILO Cooperation Agreement in March last year.
10. Singapore has been ASEAN's first deputy member at the ILO Governing Body since 2005, and would be pleased to serve as ASEAN's next titular member at the ILO Governing Body for the June 2008 to June 2011 term. In this regard, I seek your support for Singapore's candidature as ASEAN's titular member at the ILO Governing Body. If elected, Singapore would do our best to further ASEAN's collective interests at the ILO and promote closer ASEAN-ILO collaboration.
Conclusion
11. Excellency, Madam Chairperson, it has been Singapore's honour to serve as Chair of the ASEAN Labour Ministers' Meeting for the past two years. I would like to thank all ASEAN countries, and the ASEAN Secretariat, for the strong support that has been rendered to Singapore during our term. Singapore is confident that under Thailand's leadership of the ASEAN Labour Ministers' Meeting, there will be continued progress in the areas of labour cooperation and human resource development.
12. Thank you.