South Asia Labour Conference to be held in Lahore from April 24

Lahore: Provincial Minister for Labour and Human Resource, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar has said that South Asia Labour Conference to be held for the welfare of labourers and workers would also promote regional harmony between the SAARC countries and solidarity among the provinces of Pakistan. He said that the conference will have far-reaching results with regard to implementation of international labour laws and standards in SAARC countries as well as development of economy.

He was talking to media men at the curtain raiser of South Asia Labour Conference to be held in Lahore from April 24 to 26, here today. Parliamentary Secretary on Information & Culture Rana Muhammad Arshad, Member Provincial Assembly Saira Iftikhar, Secretary Labour Capt. (R) Muhammad Yousaf, Commissioner Social Security Farhan Aziz Khawaja and a large number of mediamen were present. Giving details to the mediamen,

Raja Ashfaq Sarwar said that the basic purpose of the conference is to evolve a joint strategy for ameliorating the lot of workers and labourers of South Asian countries and improve their productive capacity through effective economic reforms. He said that the conference will also result in provision of better job opportunities to the workers of Asian countries in the international market. He said that an effective strategy will be evolved in the labour conference for the development of regional labour market in line with international demands and standards.

He said that Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif will inaugurate the conference on April 24 while Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif will present a joint resolution of the SAARC countries at the concluding session of the conference on April 26.

He said that delegates from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and Nepal as well as representatives of ILO, European Union and friendly countries like China and Turkey will participate in the conference. He said that a total of 12 countries will participate in the conference of which technical sessions will also be held. Special attention will be paid in the conference to child labour, forced labour, problems of women workers, occupational safety and health system.