Minister of Labour and Vocational Training Ith Sam Heng last week led a delegation to a conference on decent jobs and inclusive growth at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France.

Cambodia joined the conference to further its social dialogue mechanisms and boost economic and social development while addressing issues and concerns in the country.

In a Facebook post, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training said the conference was a forum for global agreement partners to share ideas, challenging problems, solutions and good experiences and policies.

The conference aimed to promote decent jobs and inclusive growth while addressing new challenges in the job market going forward, it noted.

“The meeting in Paris was attended by Stefan Lofven, Prime Minister of Sweden; Anna Hallberg, Minister for Foreign Trade of Sweden; Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organisation; and OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria,” the post said.

Addressing the meeting on Tuesday at the OECD headquarters, Sam Heng said Cambodia considered social dialogue mechanisms to be extremely important to jointly solve challenging problems in the job market.

Such dialogues are also a factor driving all people to benefit from globalisation, he said. It also contributes to partners achieving Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 agenda.

He said that’s why Cambodia, the first Asean country to do so, has joined global agreement partners on the journey to reach the goals.

“Since then, Cambodia set up an inter-ministerial committee in support of the initiative. Cambodia is committed to guaranteeing rights and working conditions.

“Cambodia has promoted harmony in professional relations and social protection by approving and strengthening the implementation of the law and regulations in response to the principles of the global agreement,” he said.

He said the Cambodian government applauded achievements accomplished under the initiative of the global agreement and has vowed to continue to have close collaboration with relevant parties in promoting social dialogue for decent jobs and inclusive growth.

This is the vision of the global agreement toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN’s 2030 agenda, he noted.

The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training noted Cambodia has ratified 13 international conventions on jobs, including eight core conventions that allowed Cambodia to receive many benefits for the development of the labour sector.

This includes good collaboration with the International Labour Organisation’s Better Factories Cambodia programme.