Baku hosted a Conference on “Sustainable Development Goals: sustainable development and decent work encouragement”
21 May 2018
Opening the conference, Sahil Babayev, the minister of labor and social protection of population stated that high development of well-being factor and human capital is a main objective of economic reforms conducted in the country.
The minister said actions for providing
decent work, avoiding non-formal employment and other important components are
realized based on tripartism. Also he noted that liabilities arising from the
UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are fulfilled in cooperation with relevant
international organizations. The minister, talking about the agenda of
political dialogue and practical cooperation with the International Labor
Organization (ILO), stressed the work performed jointly and noted that the UN’s
Sustainable Development Goals show political determination in regard to solving
the said issues.
“As to the statistic data, 800 million
of the world population lives below the poverty line nowadays. Today balance
between the rural and urban life is disrupted, women experience difficulties
with work conditions, cataclysms in climatic changes cause a number of
problems. However, due to successful socio-economic policy pursued in the
country minimum pay has increased by 5.2 and minimum monthly wage by 6.6, and
material well-being has risen. It should especially be noted that poverty level
has dropped from 49 percent to 5 percent, more than 230 milliard has been
invested in economy, considerable part of which has been performed by foreign
investors.
Guy Ryder, the director general of the
International Labor Organization made a speech and stated it was his first
visit to Azerbaijan. G.Ryder said he was pleased with the visit and attendance
in the conference. He, stating Azerbaijan’s gaining the right to be represented
in the UN Management Board a year before, brought to notice that the essence of
changes in the world, particularly in labor need to be understood. Whether
Those processes will lead to increase or decrease of workplaces causes a
question. At the same time changes seem to lead to increase of inequality. In
this regard, the ILO director general stressed the importance of focusing
firstly on protection of social justice, employees’ work and social rights
while considering the processes in the world of labor, and relation of the
organization’s mission with social justice.
Making a speech in the plenary session,
the chairman of Azerbaijan Trade Unions Confederation (ATUC), MP Sattar
Mohbaliyev welcomed Guy Ryder, director general of International Labor
Organization (ILO), who worked secretary general at International Trade Union
Confederation for years and all guests attending the conference, and thanked
them for joining the event. He said: “We gathered to discuss a very important
and responsible subject. I am sure business views will be exchanged on this
subject, practical offers that satisfy the interests of workers and society
will be made.”
Azerbaijan is actively involved in the
initiatives of international community and the UN for global development.
During the recent 15 years familiarity with practical and innovative ideas in
this field has been among some of the significant factors facilitating
successful realization of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in Azerbaijan.
Our social partners participated in the
development of “Decent Work Country Programme of the Republic of Azerbaijan
2016-2020” with International Labor Organization that was adopted in September
2016. Immediately after that, ATUC Executive Committee approved “Conception of
Azerbaijan Trade Unions Confederation on Implementation of “Decent Work Country
Programme of the Republic of Azerbaijan 2016-2020”. Actions and the work to be
performed by trade unions have been established in 8 directions in the
conception.
