Jatiya calls for globalisation of skilled labour

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 15. The Union Labour Minister, Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya, has urged the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to take appropriate initiative for promoting multilateral investment in skill formation and skill upgradation in developing countries.

The Minister is in Geneva to attend a meeting of Labour Ministers of the Non-Aligned and Developing Countries under the auspices of the ILO. During talks with his counterparts from other countries and also the ILO Director-General, Dr.Juan Somavia, he has repeatedly broached the topic of ``globalisation of skills'' and the need for an appraisal of ``economic globalisation''.

According to official sources here, the Minister's idea has been ``well received'' and supported by many. Given the scarce resources for investment in education and skill training, the developing countries have endorsed the view point about the ILO treating skill globalisation as an important and contemporary issue on its agenda and that developing countries should cooperate in promoting free flow of labour and technical knowledge.

Dr. Jatiya's efforts have already paid off with the German Labour Minister, Mr. Walter Reister, welcoming experts from India in Information Technology and Communications and also facilitating the teaching of German language to these experts.

Iran too supported India's stand that skill globalisation should go hand-in-hand with economic globalisation in order to achieve the ultimate goal of social globalisation.

Dr. Jatiya also had bilateral talks and separate meetings with Labour Ministers of Bangladesh and New Zealand and the leader of the Myanmar delegation. He apprised them of the latest initiatives regarding labour welfare in India and asserted that there was lot of scope for cooperation among countries in the Asia-Pacific region in training and skill upgradation. In his addresses, Dr.Jatiya has been reminding his audience about the ill-effects of globalisation, particularly on the domestic economy and weaker sections of society, and the need for adequate steps to minimise the effect of such a process. ``It is necessary to analyse the employment scenario and find out solutions to ensure social and economic progress because globalisation has hit the developing countries hard by adversely affecting employment generation,'' he observed.

Dr. Juan Somavia, according to ministry officials, has received the concept of globalisation of skills ``very well'' and described it as ``new and refreshing which the ILO will consider''. During his meeting with Dr. Jatiya, he reportedly said that developing countries were endowed with able and skilled manpower resource which should have easy access to labour markets of the developed world.

Cautioning against attempts to link labour standards with trade, Dr. Jatiya told the ILO chief that his organisation was an appropriate forum to take up the issue on behalf of the developing world. Acknowledging India's concern, Dr. Somavia agreed that no common floor could be fixed globally for Decent Work as included in the ILO agenda.

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