Honorable Ministers and other distinguished participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The 24th Special Session on Social Development of the UN General Assembly (Copenhagen +5) called for the preparation of a coherent and coordinated international employment strategy. The UN system has therewith posed a great challenge and considerable responsibility on the ILO.

The ILO’s response to this mandate is the Global Employment Agenda. At the light of the huge economical and social challenge we are facing today, the ILO offers to facilitate the exchange of experiences between countries in carrying out reforms or developing comprehensive strategy programs. I therefore thank both the ILO and the Chinese Ministry of Employment and Social Security for convening this important event. May our discussions lead us to the targets set.

1. Employment at the heart of economical and social policies

In 2001, the Global Employment Forum confirmed in its final conclusions that“Employment policy should not be viewed as a sectoral policy at the margin of economic policy-making.” Therefore, the Global Employment Agenda’s main aim is to place employment at the heart of economic and social policies and to address it in an integrated approach.

2. Key elements for a China Employment Agenda

2.1. Competitive advantage

High quality human resources, good working conditions, sound labour relations and coherent investment policies enable enterprises to be more agile in response to market pressures; can be essential to attract and retain both private and foreign investment and assure that workers benefit also from market liberalization.

To reach this goal, Special Economic Zones play a major role. With the aim of addressing the challenges faced by these zones in the fields of human resource development as well as labour management relations, Switzerland, from 2001 until now, has been funding an ILO-project which isproviding training and consulting services to government policy makers, management and workers. It is the first ILO-project in China funded by our State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, which promotes both the integration of local companies into the global economy and the social dimension of globalisation. Such collaboration also constitutes and important step in deepening bilateral relations between our two countries.

The ILO suggests some of the Global Employment Agenda’s core elements for a Chinese Employment Agenda. Let me shortly comment on two of them.

2.2. Social dialogue and social partnership

Successful social dialogue is an important mechanism to address economical and social development issues, prevent and solve conflicts at the work place and improve enterprise performance. It is also central institution of the Swiss economic system. Translated in a functioning collaboration between trade unions and employer federations, it has greatly contributed to social freedom, democracy and stability in our country. We therefore benefit of an experience we are more than willing to share.

2.3. Improvement of knowledge and skills for employment

Technical progress doesn’t mean the end to manufacture; on the contrary, it stands for creation of highly qualified employment. High quality in education and skills development has greatly gained prominence. It is an important challenge for governments which have to be careful that education follows the rapidly changing demand for skills. In 2001, my government has launched the initiative “Internet at school” between public and private sectors, with the objective to connect all Swiss schools to the internet until 2005. For adult workers Switzerland puts a lot of effort in offering life long education, in order to permanently upgrade (and update!) workers skills.

3. A look forward

The employment strategy proposed by the ILO will only have an impact if it is translated by policies and action plans in each country. As a representative of a country where collaboration between small and larger entities on communal, regional and national level is a lived reality, I can confirm that a comprehensive employment framework is possible even at the most local levels of economic and social organization. But it is first of all the national level which is addressed.