The Tribune

SHANE Gibson, minister of labour and national insurance, yesterday welcomed Guy Ryder, director-general of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), to a conference focusing on labour issues, youth employment and related matters.

The ninth ILO Meeting of the Caribbean Ministers of Labour starts today at the British Colonial Hilton and ends tomorrow.

Mr Ryder paid a courtesy call on Mr Gibson at the Ministry of Labour yesterday. The dialogue focused on issues up for discussion during the two-day conclave, which will be officially opened by Prime Minister Perry Christie.

Mr Gibson said it was a pleasure welcoming Mr Ryder to The Bahamas; his trip marked the first time an ILO director general has visited the country for a conference.

“The government of The Bahamas is extremely pleased to host this very important meeting of the ILO Ministers of Labour under the theme: ‘Decent Work for Sustainable Development,’” Mr Gibson said.

“... CARICOM colleagues will discuss a number of critical issues including: creating job opportunities, developing skills for youth employment and climate change.”

The representatives of 13 CARICOM member-states and nine territories, will meet in sessions to also hear the perspectives of public and private investor representatives from the governments of Canada, China, the Association of Caribbean States and the CEO of the Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.

The meeting will bring together ministers with responsibility for labour, permanent secretaries and high-level officials of the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, as well as representatives of the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL), and the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC).

Labour ministers will discuss the CARICOM and ILO partnership and the implementation of decent work in national and regional policy agenda, as well as the regional tripartite social dialogue mechanism.

The meeting follows the call by Caribbean delegates at the ILO’s 18th American Regional Meeting in Lima, Peru, held October 13-16, 2014, for policies that would mitigate the impact of climate change on the economies of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the region.

This ILO meeting comes on the heels of the 26th Intersessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, February 26-27 in Nassau.