By Sajjad Hussain Shah
ISLAMABAD : The meeting of the Senate Parliamentary Development Unit (PDU) with International Labor Organization (ILO) was held at Parliament House Islamabad. The meeting was attended by the Senate PDU Team, Country Director (ILO); Mr. Geir Tonstol, and Senior Program Officers (ILO), Saghir Bukhari and Ms. Rabia Razzaque.
During the meeting, various issues of mutual interest were discussed for future partnership and collaboration. PDU appreciated the long-standing support ILO extended towards Pakistan, and expressed the hope for a mutually beneficial collaboration in future. ILO also mentioned some previous collaboration with The Senate of Pakistan, which were fruitful in the past.
While discussing the areas of potential collaboration, ILO highlighted its strategic priorities which included 1) Promotion of labor standards and fundamental conventions 2) Creation of conducive environment for job creation, skills and enterprise development 3) Social Protection 4) Social Dialogue.
Among the various areas ILO and Senate of Pakistan can work together in the future, some key areas identified for facilitation highlighted were 1) Orientation Sessions/ Capacity Building of Parliamentarians, with all stakeholders present 2) Public hearing of relevant Standing Committees in which all Stakeholders will be involved, including the workers. At the end, recommendations will be formulated for onward transmission to quarter concerned.
The meeting concluded at a very positive note; with a concrete conclusion along with a promise to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) very soon in the future.
