Jakarta (ANTARA News) - ASEAN member states have agreed to cooperate in manpower management to face the threat of global economic crisis and to increase the competitive edge of manpower at global level.

They reached the agreement at an ASEAN seminar on cooperation in manpower management organized by the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry in Yogykarta on May 9-10.

"The delegates have agreed to encourage cooperation among employers, labor unions and governments to promote the living standard of workers and their families through social dialogs and based on mutual understanding and trust," Director General of Industrial Relations and Labor Social Insurance at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, Myra M. Hanartani said in a press conference here on Tuesday.

The delegates also promised to ask their respective governments to facilitate and provide good workplace, ensure legal certainty, implement codes of ethic for social partnership, and appreciate bipartite cooperation, she said.

They also recommended that the International Labor Organization (ILO) facilitate researches and provide training and technical assistance to ASEAN member states in the field of labor management cooperation, she said.

She said the two-day seminar was a follow-up to ASEAN Guidance on good industrial relations adopted by ASEAN member states at an ASEAN manpower ministers meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, in May 2010.

ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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