First Regional Employment Forum Held in Tbilisi
Niels Scott, Head of the United Nations in Georgia opened the first two-day forum of regional employment in Tbilisi last week.
“Georgia is hosting the first regional forum on jobs for prosperity, a very appropriate convening role for Georgia as a leader in reforms, and given its central location linking regional trade and knowledge sharing. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations member countries this September in New York clearly identified productive employment as one of the main driving forces behind development. The opportunity for employment is indeed at the heart of the STGs. Employment not only contributes to the prosperity of families and communities, and indeed nations, but also provides the opportunity to build societies on the principles of social justice- inclusion and equity.”
The conference organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank Group, International Labor Organization and the Swiss Cooperation Office brought more than 130 delegates from Azerbaijan, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus and Georgia together in order to look into ways to boost employment that ensure the inclusive and sustainable growth of the national labor markets in the region.
At the conference, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili noted that employment is the one of the challenges the country is now facing and emphasized the importance of the conference.
“Issues like job creation, fighting poverty and strengthening the economy are our main priority. We understand how important it is for each citizen to be able to realize their full potential and to direct their knowledge in the right way: that’s why we support such a conference as this.
In order to increase employment opportunities it is vital that the business sector be supported by the government because they are the ones who can create new jobs. That’s why our government is promoting a healthy, free and competitive business environment in Georgia,” Garibashvili added.
The first day of the forum was dedicated to an in-depth discussion on how to create more jobs in the region in collaboration with the private sector, and on the role of state services in developing a qualified workforce.
Manager of UNDP Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS, Rastislav Vrbensky, said: “Getting people back to work is a complex issue that requires a strong commitment from governments, civil society and communities. The UNDP welcomes their commitment to looking for an innovative solution. This dialogue must continue if we are to meet employment challenges, as none of us can meet it alone.”
On the second day of forum, the participants discussed skills development strategies, vocational education and trainings. Special attention was paid to the complex multisector approaches to employment in view of the transition to low-carbon sustainable development patterns.
“Current demographic trends bring 40 million people to the labor market each year,” claimed Heinz Koller, Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia of the International Labor Organization (ILO). “That means the world economy will be creating about 600 million new jobs between now and 2030.
The current and forecasted growth results don’t leave us to expect much improvement on that.” Koller added.
Meri Taliashvili