Ministerial Consultation on Contractual Labour Opens Next Week
A two-day conference bringing together ministers and senior
officials from Asian labour countries of origin and Gulf
destination countries alongside leading regional and international
organizations opens on Monday in Abu Dhabi.
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The Abu Dhabi Dialogue, which is hosted by the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) and co-organized by IOM, will bring together for the first
time the 11 Colombo Process states with the six Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) states, Yemen and three additional Asian countries of
destination, namely the Republic of Korea, Malaysia and
Singapore.
The conference aims to highlight the potential of contractual
labour mobility to benefit overseas workers as well as the
development of both countries of origin and destination in Asia
through the setting up of key action-oriented
partnerships.
"The Abu Dhabi Dialogue constitutes a milestone in regional
cooperation on contractual labour mobility," says IOM Director
General Brunson McKinley. "It will serve as a forum to mobilize new
ideas and develop practical approaches and partnerships to promote
a comprehensive regional framework for contractual labour mobility
between Asian and GCC states with the aim of promoting the welfare
and well-being of workers and the development needs of origin and
destination countries."
Following the Ministerial Consultation, the UAE will also host
the Second Gulf Forum on Temporary Contractual Labour on 23 and 24
January. The purpose of the event is to address issues of
contractual labour in the GCC countries, including labour relations
and rights.
According to recent estimates, more than 2.5 million Asian
contract workers leave their countries every year to work
abroad. A large percentage head for the Gulf States to be
employed in the oil, gas, trade and construction sectors and well
as in the service industries while others move to Asian destination
countries such as the Republic of Korea, Malaysia and
Singapore.
Overall numbers of Asian overseas workers are expected to
increase due to the effects of globalization, the decline in the
working populations in certain parts of the world, combined with a
growing need for skilled workers and service personnel in the
global economy.
At the request of several Asian governments, IOM organized the
first Ministerial Consultation for Asian Labour Origin Countries in
April 2003 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The Asian labour countries of origin (Bangladesh, China, India,
Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand
and Vietnam) which took part in this initial meeting made several
recommendations to enhance the management of overseas employment
and agreed to a follow-up programme that paved the way for the
second round of Ministerial Consultations, which was held in
Manila, the Philippines, in September 2004.
A third Ministerial Consultation took place in Bali, Indonesia,
in September 2005 where Afghanistan became the 11th Asian country
to join the Colombo Process with Bahrain, Italy, Kuwait, Malaysia,
Qatar, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates attending as observers.
For more information, please contact:
Jean-Philippe Chauzy
Abu Dhabi
+00 41 79 285 43 66
E-mail:
"mailto:pchauzy@iom.int">pchauzy@iom.int