The programme, prepared jointly by the tripartite constituents – the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen (Employers) and the Confederation of Trade Unions – formulates main principles of the county’s cooperation with the ILO: support to the ratification of the ILO conventions and recommendations; assistance to the employment reform in accordance with the national poverty eradication programme; assistance in the preparation of national labour legislation, in particular of legislation on state labour inspection; development of institutionalized social partnership.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Aghvan Vardanyan, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Armenia, recognized the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda as a global goal for poverty reduction in a globalized world, and said that the new technical cooperation programme will contribute to its implementation.

Pauline Barrett-Reid, ILO-Moscow Director, said that the programme laid a solid ground for future cooperation between the ILO and the Republic of Armenia.

The ILO has already launched in Armenia its new sub-regional Dutch-funded project aimed at increasing employability and skills development o young men and women and other marginalized groups.