The Ministry of Labour, Employment, and Social Security, Government of Nepal in collaboration with the ILO organized a tripartite discussion on the report of the ILO’s Global Commission on the Future of Work: Work for a brighter future.

Attended by more than 120 participants from the government, employers, workers, development partners, diplomats, policy actors, academicians, media and stakeholders, the speakers deliberated on new forces transforming the world of work and call for decisive action for future of work that we want.

ILO in its 100 years of journey for social security and decent work, the world still looks up to the effective implementation of equal pay for equal value of work for all migrants in all countries,” said Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security (MOLESS), Gokarna Bista and suggestedit should be a new global campaign for the ILO, governments and all those who supporting the concept of social justice and decent work for workers’ brighter future.

Minister Bista stressed, that Global Commission on the Future of Work report, commissioned by the ILO is very relevant to Nepal as it urges increased investment in human capacities, and institutions of work for decent and sustainable work.

Secretary at the Ministry, Mahesh Prasad Dahal, said the Government was considering ratification of some ILO conventions relevant to Nepal, this year.

President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Bhawani Rana congratulated ILO for its centenary and said the private sector of Nepal was prepared to capitalize the youth dividend for governance and decent job creation in Nepal.

As the representative of workers, President of Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC), Pushkar Acharya observed that effective implementation of labour law provisions and minimum wage was crucial to set the stage for workers’ bright future and increased productivity.

ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Tomoko Nishimoto, said Nepal’s recent reforms in the labour market were impressive and underscored the need for doing more to “stir growth based on social justice.”

Sara Elder, Chief of ILO’s Economic Analysis Unit in Bangkok presented highlights of the Global Commission Report.
 

Prof. Dr. Govinda Nepal highlighted the over changing global and economic order and expressed concern that revival of protectionism and slowdown of the spirit of WTO agreements has led to a gradual rise of bilateralism against multilateralism and regionalism, limiting the opportunities for many developing countries to prosper.

“This ILO flagship report should also say something about the future of work about this changing global political and economic order,“ he underlined.

Former Vice Chair of National Planning Commission and economist, Dr. Swarnim Wagle outlined three peculiar features of Nepal’s development trajectory, with a focus on the impact of demographic shift, urbanization and technological advances and noted that the Global Commission Report has rightly captured the essence of the preparation needed for the future.

“Nepal should localize three forces affecting the world of work and three investments needed to address the challenges by assisting provinces and local municipalities apply the recommendations apply policy processes and engage the government, the private sector, the trade unions, to carry forth this agenda in a coordinated way in line with the 15th developing plan,” he underlined.