Vietnamese Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Đào Ngọc Dung speaks from Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Đào Ngọc Dung pledged thatViệt Nam and other ASEAN member states would make efforts to promote the implementation of labour agreements adopted at the 26th ASEAN Labour Ministers’ Meeting (ALMM) on Wednesday.

Dung together with other labour ministers of ASEAN countries and Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi attended the virtual meeting and discussed how to promote competitiveness, responsiveness and flexibility of ASEAN's labour force.

Ministers and heads of delegations approved declarations including ASEAN Declaration on Human Resource Development for the Changing World of Work, Declaration of ASEAN Labour Ministers on the future of work: adoption of technology for inclusive and sustainable growth, ASEAN Declaration on promoting green jobs towards equity and inclusive growth, ASEAN Consensus on the protection and promotion of migrant workers' rights, Vientiane Declaration on the transition from informal employment to formal employment towards promoting decent work in ASEAN, among others.

The delegates agreed the adoption of those agreements would promote human resource development in ASEAN as well as enhance the workforce’s competitiveness. Those documents will serve as a basis for ASEAN and each ASEAN member country to refer and integrate activities into their policies towards sustainable and people-centered development and an inclusive and equitable society.

ASEAN labour ministers also approved the working plan for the period 2021-25 including plan of the Working Group on Occupational Safety and Health, the Action Plan of the ASEAN on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. This will be an important basis for member countries to implement specific activities and projects in the coming time.

They also approved a number of documents to submit to the 37th ASEAN Summit to take place in November this year.

On the same day, the ASEAN Labour Ministers’ Meeting plus three (ALMM + 3) was held with discussions focused on fostering labour co-operation between the bloc and China, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Japan.

Addressing the meeting, Vietnamese labour minister Dung spoke highly of the theme “Promoting competitiveness, responsiveness and flexibility of ASEAN workforce in the future of work”, which is relevant to the theme of ASEAN 2020.

Human resource development is one of three breakthroughs in the Việt Nam’s socio-economic development strategy in the 2011-20 period. Thanks to the strategy, the proportion of the trained workers granted degrees or certificates increased from 15.58 per cent in 2011 to 24 per cent in 2019 and is expected to reach the target of 25 per cent by 2020, he said.

Several Việt Nam's human resource index also ranked high in the region such as human capital index, innovation index, human development index, he added.

“Việt Nam is building human resource development strategy for 2021-30 period with a focus on labour force development being able to adapt to the 4.0 revolution,” Dung said.

Minister Dung highly appreciated the effective co-ordination of ASEAN member countries in building and approving the ASEAN Declaration on Human Resource Development for the World of Changing Cork while expressing Việt Nam’s willingness to promote co-operation within ASEAN and ASEAN+3 towards a competitive, responsive and flexible workforce. — VNS