24 August 2017

IOE Deputy Secretary-General participates in ASEAN Regional Employers Meeting

Roberto Suárez Santos, IOE Deputy Secretary-General, visited Kuala Lumpur from 14-16 August 2017, to meet with the members of the ASEAN Confederation of Employers (ACE). In total there were twenty representatives of employers’ organisations from across the region in attendance, together with ILO representatives and two external specialists.

In a meeting on 15 August the members, supported by ACT/EMP, sought to identify strategic objectives and priorities, to serve as the basis for drawing up a plan of action for the coming years. The IOE contributed by sharing its own strategic objectives, its plan to achieve them, its short-term focus areas and its priorities in relation to its own member federations. The IOE also shared its own Future of Work initiative.

In the 16 August meeting, ACE members discussed the possibility of setting up an ASEAN Employers’ Resource Centre, under the ILO's ASEAN TRIANGLE Project Plan. The proposed Resource Centre would focus on providing assistance to ASEAN businesses in labour, social and economic subject matters, including but not limited to, migration and labour mobility

The IOE contributed by sharing the Employers’ perspective and achievements, following the 2017 ILC discussion on migration. The IOE also presented its role within the GFMD and Colombo Process and clarified the role of the International Organization of Migration in relation to the activities of the ILO.