English Review
The ASEAN Ministers’ meeting for human resources development
04:08 PM 2020-09-17
(LĐXH)- On September 16, 2020 in Hanoi, the ASEAN High Level Conference on Human Resource Development for the changing world of work was held by Vietnam as the ASEAN Chair 2020 with the participation of 150 delegates.
At the opening ceremony, ASEAN labour and education ministers launched the Roadmap of ASEAN Declaration on Human Resources Development for the Changing World of Work, along with the ASEAN Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council.
Human resources development is one of Vietnam’s priorities and the high-level conference viewed it as a highlight in its ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020. It was also the first conference seeing the participation of ASEAN labour and education ministers.
Addressing the virtual ASEAN high level conference on human resource development for the changing world of work, Vietnamese Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) Dao Ngoc Dung said developing human resources was the key to improve labour productivity and regional competitiveness in adaptation to a changing world of work.
“Human resource development is the long-term goal and guideline of ASEAN Community’s development as stated in ASEAN Charter. In a rapidly changing world, ASEAN always gives priority to putting people at its core of development because the utmost goal of sustainable growth is for people’s development” – he said.
The Minister said Vietnam had selected human resource development as one of ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community’s priorities, making contributions to the development of the ASEAN Economic Community and improving the responsiveness of ASEAN.
In particular, with his keynote address, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam emphasized the role of ASEAN member countries in promoting the commitment of ASEAN leaders and efforts to help the labor market adapting with the effects of the 4th industrial revolution, population aging, climate change and epidemics.
Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam pledged Việt Nam’s commitments in “working closely with partners in implementing the roadmap, turning political commitments into practice, with an aim to creating opportunities for labourers and enterprises towards a prosperous ASEAN Community”.
ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi highlighted the necessity of regional commitments on human resource development, especially in the post-pandemic era and the importance of training on vocational skills to ensure job opportunities for labourers in the digital world and improve the quality of the ASEAN labour force.
The ASEAN Council on vocational education was launched the same day, aiming to strengthen collaboration between enterprises and industries to improve quality of vocational education in adaptation to the changing labour market.
The council will be in charge of making policy recommendations to improve the quality of vocational education and offering more opportunities for vulnerable groups like the disabled, those living in rural and ethnic minority areas to access vocational training, especially skills in the digital age./.