Bangladesh needs skills development for young workforce: ILO

Chihoko Asada-Miyakawa, the ILO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, has said Bangladesh needed skills development for its huge, young workforce and prioritise employment generation, and the basic protection of workers.  
 
"This required a creative approach where the International Labour Organisation (ILO) could also help," she said during her visit to Bangladesh Employers' Federation (BEF)'s Gulshan office on Monday.
 
During the time, the both parties exchanged views on ILO's support for Bangladesh's development and the need for future cooperation under the changing global scenario, said the press release.
 
The Regional Director also identified inequality to be one of the biggest developmental challenges for Asia and the Pacific.
 
She believed the region needed to prioritise social protection, social dialogue, employment generation, decent work, and the basic protection of workers.
 
Chihoko Asada-Miyakawa was accompanied by the ILO Country Director Tuomo Poutiainen and other senior officials from ILO Dhaka office.  Led by the BEF President Ardashir Kabir, the committee members received and welcomed the RD and her colleagues.
 
The BEF President highlighted how BEF and the ILO had been working together in Bangladesh on skills development, occupational safety and health, social dialogue, industrial relations, decent work, and other various areas.
 
He pointed out Bangladesh's need to prepare its workforce for the disruptions arising out of the gradual embracing of 4IR.
 
The ILO would remain by Bangladesh's side as the country pursued its goals while going through the different stages of development, the Bangladesh Employers' Federation President hoped.
 
He believed the new RD's guidance could take the regions as well as Bangladesh's partnership with the ILO to the next level.
 
The Bangladesh government has been actively pursuing workers' safety, social protection, and decent work conditions during the last few decades. The country has also updated its rules and laws to make those sustainable and practical.