The labor ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries discussed, on Tuesday, issues affecting employment and shaping the direction of national labor and employment policies, the latest developments in the Gulf labor markets, and technical cooperation programs between the GCC countries, as well as opportunities and prospects for enhancing cooperation between the GCC countries and the International Labor Organization. And opportunities to increase the employment of Gulf cadres in it.
The meeting, in which the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jassim Al-Budaiwi, and the Director-General of the International Labor Organization, Gilbert Hongbo, participated in exploring prospects for the future of government work in preparation for facing the changes imposed by technology and new business models, and preparing the workforce in the region for the post-oil era and its impositions. Changes in the reality of education and employment, and the growing importance of entrepreneurship and the skills that Gulf youth need to acquire to compete in the local labor markets, including expertise from around the world, according to the Emirates News Agency (WAM).
The Minister of Labor of the Sultanate of Oman, Dr. Mahad Saeed Baawin, affirmed that the brotherhood ties between the GCC countries require strengthening cooperation bonds to meet the challenges facing the region and the world, which are reflected in the labor markets in the world as a whole.
For his part, Hongbo touched on ways to strengthen the partnership between the International Labor Organization and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. He also reviewed the formulation and launch of the "Global Alliance for Social Justice" to be launched during the next session of the International Labor Conference in June 2023, and the importance of the role of the GCC countries in this context.
In the context, the UAE Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Awar, held a bilateral meeting with Gilbert Hongbo, and Dr. Ruba Jaradat, Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Arab Countries at the International Labor Organization, where they discussed future jobs, the skills to be available in the labor force, labor market productivity, and tools. And the mechanisms used to measure and improve them, and the economic, political and technological variables and their impact on jobs.
Al-Awar affirmed the UAE's support for the "Global Alliance for Social Justice", considering it a moral necessity that forms the basis of national stability and global prosperity, and an important requirement for achieving sustainable development, reviewing the effects of climate change on labor and development issues in the least developed countries, and the UAE's preparations to host the "COP 28" conference. Dialogues will take place on the sidelines to understand the impact of climate change on labor markets and economic migration rates in countries around the world.
Abdul Rahman Al-Awar, Director of the Development Center at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Ragnheuer Arnadottir, also discussed the challenges that impose on the world the reformulation of the international economic and social system, the strengthening of development partnerships in the least developed countries, the need to support structural transformation in the least developed countries, and the need to make efforts to enhance the march of Global development and support the achievement of sustainable development goals to meet the challenges the world is going through.
Source: Middle East News Agency