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07:58 GMT
CAIRO, Sept 11 (KUNA) -- On its 45th anniversary of joining the Arab Labor
Organization (ALO), Kuwait is "showing the same enthusiasm and care as an
active member as it did upon joining in September 1968," shortly after the
launch of the Arab League affiliate, said the ALO chief Wednesday.
ALO Director General of the Arab Labor Organization Ahmed Luqman noted the
member state's unique representation and participation in ALO constitutional
and systemic bodies through chairing the board of directors and its efforts to
bolster the ALO's role on all issues falling within its competence.
Luqman pointed out ALO is the first Arab organization specialized in the
affairs of and care for workers and laborers on regional level and is unique
for its three-party representation system which means that governments,
employers, and workers are all included in debates and involved in ALO
functions and decision-making.
Kuwait, he added, was always the most represented state, whether at the
annual conference or meetings of sub-committees.
The annual conference, he stressed, is where all groups and sectors and
circles meet and the representatives of these groups include ministers of
labor, ministers of social affairs, heads of labor unions and professional
associations, and heads of chambers of commerce and industry. Kuwait, he said,
was always prominently represented and highly interactive and always keeping
up with results and recommendations of meetings and workshops and keen on
sharing experiences and expertise to best address the issues at hand.
The focus and topics for discussion change from year to year, he said, in
tune with international political, social, and economic developments and state
of affairs. The overall direction, however, stays within the ALO general
objectives.
The official further praised Kuwaiti contributions and recalled that the
Arab Economic, Social, and Development Summit the Gulf state hosted back in
2009 was the most important summit in recent history and a true water-shed
moment for the region. The Kuwait summit, he elaborated, discussed and focused
on the most pressing issue at present in the Arab region, and that was
unemployment, which affects every Arab housel hold.
"The summit also fittingly stressed solutions for this problem include
development and fine-tuning of scientific, technical, and vocational training
and related programs.
"Focus on such issue and addressing it in that manner reflects awareness
and care on the part of the Kuwaiti leadership regarding the Arab region's
most pressing concern."
The ALO chief further pointed out that this direction and focus was adopted
by the subsequent Arab economic summits with the stress on reducing
unemployment rates, development projects, new job markets for younger
generations in particular, as well as stress on care for youth's theoretical
knowledge as well as their technological competence.
Luqman also praised Kuwait's "strong and unique standing in terms of union
and syndicate action which he considered a natural by-product of the country's
long history of distinguished democratic practice."
Kuwait is a pioneering state in terms of founding unions and professional
syndicates, and the ALO board has much to gain at present from membership of
the head of National Union of Kuwait Workers Fayez Al-Mutairi who now serves
as head of the unions and freedoms committee, Luqman remarked.
During a conference held in Baghdad for Arab ministers of labor, the
decision was taken and approval secured for the establishment of the Arab
Labor Organization, in the presence of representatives of Algeria, Tunisia,
Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen.
ALO objectives include, "Coordination of efforts in the field of employment
in Arab and international conferences; Development and maintenance of the
rights and freedoms of association; the unification of labor legislation and
working conditions in the Arab countries as possible, including the
preparation of a manual classification of professionals; to undertake studies
and research in the area of manpower planning and employment of women,
juveniles, and problems related to industry, trade and services, agriculture,
industrial, and security industries and micro-culture and classification of
labor, cooperatives and professional productivity.
They also include providing "technical assistance in the field of
employment, and a plan for the social security system, vocational training,
and the preparation of the dictionary of the Arab action; Development of Arab
human resources through programs and activities of manpower planning and the
fight against unemployment, and to create employment opportunities for women,
and to facilitate the movement of Arab labor and attention to the situation of
Arab workers, migrants." (end)
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