Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 25/04/2013
Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan 25-26 April 2013 H.E. Mr. Fizuli Alakbarov, Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Population of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Your Excellencies, Ministers and Heads of Delegation, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure for me to address the Second Islamic Conference of Labour Ministers (ICLM), which is being held in this impressive but historic city of Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. First and foremost, allow me to express my sincere gratitude to H.E. Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Government and people of Azerbaijan for hosting this very important session of the OIC Conference of Labour Ministers and for the unprecedented hospitality extended to all delegations. This session is very significant in many respects. It is holding against the background of the paradigm shift, which the General Secretariat has spearheaded, by ensuring the creation of workable mechanism for the implementation of the various Ministerial decisions and resolutions taken at our sectoral meetings. More significantly, this meeting is also taking place at a time when the profile of Azerbaijan within the OIC is on the ascendancy, given its recent sponsorship of major capacity building programmes in some OIC member states in the field of petroleum and education, among other projects being undertaken by the Azerbaijan International Development Agency. I should also express my sincere gratitude to the Government of Turkey for hosting the first ministerial session on the sidelines of the 19th World Congress on Occupational Health and Safety held in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey, on 11-15 September 2011. The faithful implementation of the outcome of this first session has resulted in the elaborate preparations made for this second session. In this regard, I should also thank all member states, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which chaired the first session, for their contributions to the framework document, which has since been considered by our senior officials. Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Delegates, Our desire to accelerate intra-OIC cooperation in the domain of labour comes at a time when the impact of the recent global financial and economic crises is still noticeable in our respective countries. Many OIC member states were hit hard by the adverse consequences of these developments, such as declining export revenues, loss of employment, dwindling foreign direct investment flows, among others. The impact of these crises on employment and social protection has been unprecedented. Statistics show that due to financial and economic crises the number of unemployed people increased from 150 million in 2007 to 202 million in 2012 worldwide, while another 3 million persons are expected to drop out of the labour market in 2014. In the context of OIC, there were also significant job losses registered in most of our countries, especially those whose economies rely heavily on exports industries. Available statistics show that during 2006-2010, the average unemployment rates in OIC countries remained significantly higher than the world average. During this period, the average unemployment rate in OIC countries remained more than 9.0 per cent against the world average of 6.8% and average of other developing countries of 6.4%. Another area of concern for OIC is the labour productivity in our countries. Globally, labour productivity has witnessed an increasing trend during the period 2006-2010. The world output per worker has increased from US$ 23 thousand in 2006 to US$ 27 thousand in 2010. However, labour productivity in OIC was recorded at US$ 9 thousand in 2010. This level remained very low compared to the level of the world and developed countries of US$ 27 thousand and US$ 89 thousand, respectively. This means that an average worker in OIC countries produces less than one third of the output produced by an average worker in the world and one tenth of the output of average worker in the developed countries. It is against this background that much of focus of OIC current economic agenda is centered around promoting productivity of labour and intensifying cooperation on human capital development among OIC countries. This consideration is firmly anchored on our various efforts at achieving the objectives of the OIC Ten-Year Programme of Action and the implementation of the core values enshrined in the OIC Charter as well as the implementation of the relevant provisions of the General Agreement for Economic, Technical and Commercial Cooperation among Member States of the OIC. Accordingly, the OIC has put in place a deliberate policy aimed at increasing employment, labour productivity and decent work environment, especially for young population and other disadvantaged groups in the course of promoting socio-economic development. Therefore, OIC programmes, such as the Vocational and Educational Training (VET) undertaken by SESRIC and the Vocational and Literacy Programme (VOLIP) under the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) have gained prominence in the realm of OIC social and economic agenda. In the domain of social protection, it is also gladdening to mention here that other programmes put in place within the OIC include the establishment of OIC Occupational Safety and Health Network (OIC-OSHNET) and the flagship project for poverty eradication for Africa and Central Asian regions. The Special Programme for the Development of Africa, which has a funding window of US$ 12 billion has since its establishment in 2008 facilitated OIC targeted interventions in such areas as agricultural development and food security, access to water and sanitation, social infrastructure, human resource development, energy and transportation. Mr. Chairman, Honorable Delegates and Guests, Permit me to refer to the issue, which I raised earlier on creating an effective mechanism for the implementation of OIC resolutions. While I wish to register my commendation for the practical measures taken through the proposition of a Framework Document for intra-OIC cooperation for the consideration of this meeting. Equally significant is the proposition for the creation of a Steering Committee to follow-up the implementation of our identified joint action. It is my hope that the Steering Committee would set out a time frame for its actions, while at the same time embarking on quick impact projects that will scale up our national and multilateral interventions as we address the various challenges confronting our member states. This Conference, and indeed the proposed Steering Committee, will no doubt facilitate the creation of a Database of Business Angel Investors in OIC member states, as well as a Network of Technology and Business Incubation Centers in our member states. Before concluding this statement, let me reassure you that the General Secretariat will spare no effort in ensuring the expeditious and faithful implementation of your decisions and resolutions. I wish you all a resounding success in your deliberations and I thank you for your kind attention.
