REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
OPENING REMARKS BY
THE HONOURABLE RENNIE DUMAS,
MINISTER OF LABOUR AND SMALL AND MICRO ENTERPRISE
DEVELOPMENT, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
AT
THE ELEVENTH OAS POLICY ROUNDTABLE DIALOGUE
THEME: “YOUTH, DECENT WORK AND HUMAN PROSPERITY IN THE
AMERICAS”
OAS HALL OF THE AMERICAS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
5 NOVEMBER 2008 AT 2:30 P.M.
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Colleague Minister of Labour,
Your Excellency Edwin Salamin,
Minister of Labour and Labour Development,
Panama;
Your Excellency José Miguel Insulza,
Secretary-General of the Organization of American States;
Ms. Charlotte Ponticelli,
Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs,
United States Department of Labour;
Distinguished Permanent Representatives;
Mr. Jean Maninat,
Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean International Labour
Organization;
Representatives of the Trade Union Technical Advisory Council (COSATE)
and the Business Technical Advisory Committee (CEATAL);
Distinguished Panelists and Moderators;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Ladies and gentlemen.
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Ladies and gentlemen, after a long and emotional elections night, I wish to
extend my heartfelt congratulations and that of the Government and People of
Trinidad and Tobago to President-elect Barack Obama and the people of the
United States of American on your elections victory. His historic and
extraordinary road to the Presidency has personally touched the hearts of and
given hope to many and it will continue to inspire people not only in your
country but also around the world. Congratulations President-elect Barack
Obama.
It is my distinct pleasure in my capacity as Chairman of the Fifteenth Inter
American Conference of Ministers of Labour (IACML) to participate in this,
the Eleventh Organization of American States (OAS) Policy Roundtable
Dialogue, centered on the topic of “Youth, Decent Work and Human
Prosperity in the Americas.” This is indeed a timely initiative given the
ongoing preparatory process for the Fifth Summit of the Americas which
Trinidad and Tobago has the honour to host in April next year under the
theme “Securing Our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity,
Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability”.
Permit me to express my gratitude and commendation to both the SecretaryGeneral of the OAS, His Excellency José Miguel Insulza, and the DirectorGeneral of the International Labour Organization, His Excellency Dr. Juan
Somavia, for their collaborative efforts in hosting this Policy Dialogue Forum.
Appreciation is also extended for the support given to Trinidad and Tobago in
executing its Chairmanship responsibilities in respect of the Fifteenth IACML
and the Fifth Summit of the Americas. Such demonstration of co-operation
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and commitment provides a solid foundation for shaping an effective
hemispheric agenda.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we all know that broad demographic, climatic,
economic and technological forces are repositioning our engines of growth
and hence the keys to our national, hemispheric and international prosperity,
environmental sustainability and social progress.
In essence we are driven to create a new ‘blueprint” for economic prosperity
and ultimately human prosperity at all levels.
In today’s environment, we are being called upon to treat with issues of
migration, ageing populations, shrinking size of households, even as we
grapple with new technologies that have shrunk the world by reducing the cost
and increasing the speed of transmitting information. The resulting realities of
connectivity allows for the de-concentration of activities but has also fueled
the concentration of industry clusters.
Globalization has also accelerated shifts in our economies, not only as a
consequence of the intensification of competition, but also the simultaneous
deepening of regional integration and economic co-operation and increased
trading on the global market, to name a few.
In today’s environment, scale, speed, diversity, complexity and connectivity
are real issues to be addressed. In addition, our economies are now required,
among other things, to be knowledge driven, technologically oriented,
globally integrated and innovative. Our prosperity therefore, depends heavily
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on the capabilities of our peoples in this complex environment. I dare say our
prosperity is hinged on the well being and productivity of our human
resources.
The need to focus on people, enterprises and the real economy is an appeal
that has been made by the Director-General of the ILO in his call for ‘rescuing
the real economy.’ With the number of unemployed persons projected to
increase by 20 million by the end of 2009, the ILO Director General’s
recommendation for developing ‘an economic rescue plan for working people
and the real economy, with rules and policies that deliver decent work and
productive enterprises’ must be heeded. This becomes even more critical
when one considers the fact that unemployment hits the most vulnerable the
hardest. As such, we anticipate that the youth of our region will not be spared
the wrath of this current global economic downturn especially in light of the
disturbing statistic that, earlier this year, there were 22 million young people
that neither worked nor studied. As reflected in the Declaration of Medellin
of the 38th OAS General Assembly this year, the conditions of poverty, social
exclusion and vulnerability faced by young people can affect their
development for the rest of their lives.
In light of this, the promotion of decent work becomes a greater imperative for
ensuring the prosperity of our people and our hemisphere. Internationally, it
has been agreed that the decent work concept, developed and eloquently
elaborated by His Excellency Juan Somavia, provides a framework for
improved and sustained productivity and the well-being of our human
resources, the people.
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In Trinidad and Tobago, at the Fifteenth IACML, held in September 2007,
when the OAS Member States adopted the Declaration and Plan of Action of
Port of Spain 2007 with the theme “Making Decent Work Central to Social
and Economic Development,” this demonstrated clearly the critical role of the
human work force to the sustainable development of our economies and the
prosperity of our people.
This Declaration and Plan of Action built on the labour mandates,
commitments and decisions taken at the Fourteenth IACML and the Fourth
Summit of the Americas. At this Fourteenth IACML held in Mexico City,
Mexico, in 2005, the Declaration and Plan of Action adopted were based on
the theme “People and their work at the heart of globalization”.
At that forum, we reaffirmed our conviction that decent work, embodied in the
four strategic objectives identified by the ILO as key to improving the living
conditions of the people of our Hemisphere - promotion of fundamental
principles and rights at work, creation of opportunities for work, enhancement
of social protection and promotion of social dialogue.
Two months later, in Mar del Plata, Argentina, our Heads of State and
Government, in recognition of the value of the discussions at the Fourteenth
IACML and the centrality of decent work to social and economic progress,
selected as the theme for the Fourth Summit of the Americas “Creating Jobs
to Fight Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance.” The commitments
expressed in the Declaration and Plan of Action of Mar del Plata adopted at
the Fourth Summit of the Americas sought to anchor the goal of decent work
within the broader hemispheric agenda.
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Ladies and gentlemen, it is quite evident that the link between the IACML and
the Summit of the Americas process remains quite strong. The two-way
communication flow between the Summit of the Americas and the IACML
has promoted and will continue to promote synchronization of issues and
action plans in our hemisphere.
In light of the foregoing, it is evident that in today’s world, labour is
recognized as the key driver of human prosperity, and decent work must be a
major element of any agenda we develop to treat with improved and sustained
human prosperity.
Further, it must be even more evident, and recognized that our future
prosperity and the sustained prosperity of our states are linked, and in the
capable hands of our youth.
The commitment to this world view held and expressed by our Member States
is clearly reflected in the Fifteenth IACML Declaration of Port of Spain, 2007
and I quote,
“the future of our peoples rests in the hands of the youth and there is
a window of opportunity for young people to contribute to the
development of our societies”.
At the Fifteenth IACML we also committed to,
“promote programmes and projects that will enhance
employability,
equal
opportunity,
entrepreneurship
and
employment creation for youth, including through education,
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integral human development, training and lifelong learning that
meet labour market requirements”.
The importance of these factors has led both the ILO and the OAS to join
forces to bring us together today to re-examine the issues of “Youth, Decent
Work and Human Prosperity in the Americas”.
Ladies and gentlemen, I was fortunate to spend some of my years as a teacher
and I have seen a lot of what is best in our youth. Many of them have
determination, optimism, fresh and invigorating ideas and a willingness to
take risks and try new things. As Minister with responsibility for small and
micro enterprise development in my country, I can tell you that these are
definitely desirable qualities for budding entrepreneurs in today’s business
world.
The synergistic and interdependent relationships between youth
development, promotion of entrepreneurship and decent work together with an
enabling environment can provide opportunities that are both rewarding and
gratifying to the our young entrepreneurs.
Ladies and gentlemen, these can be exciting times for our youth. Together we
must harness our efforts and thoughts and exchange information in acting to
create the opportunities that can bring the greatest benefits to our young
people.
This process of exchange and dialogue on promoting decent work for the
youth of our region has already begun. A Seminar on Youth Employment was
convened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in May of this year under the InterAmerican Network for Labour Administration (RIAL, by its Spanish
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acronym), the mechanism for horizontal co-operation and technical assistance
of the IACML, and with the support of the United States Department of
Labour and the Ministry of Labour and Employment of Brazil.
The Seminar highlighted several of the initiatives being undertaken by
Governments, trade unions, the private sector and non-governmental
organizations in the region to address the main employment challenges
confronting our youth. Featured with some of the key lessons learnt, among
other things, the need to involve our youths in the development of policies and
programmes from which they will benefit and the importance of strong
partnership in development and implementation of these policies and
programmes.
In recognition of the ongoing conversations, I take this opportunity to applaud
the partnership between the Young Americas Business Trust of the OAS and
the Summits of the Americas Secretariat of the OAS with the Trinidad and
Tobago National Secretariat for the Fifth Summit of the Americas, for the
convening of the Caribbean Sub-Regional Dialogue for the Participation of
Young People in the Process of the Summits of the Americas last week in Port
of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. This forum provided an opportunity for
young people to express their views on the themes and the Draft Declaration
of Commitment for the Fifth Summit of the Americas.
Ladies and gentlemen, as Chair of the Fifteenth IACML, I assure you that
decent work for our young people is not only of high priority on the
hemispheric labour agenda, but is also being accorded significant focus by
each of our government and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago’s
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development agenda. In transforming Trinidad and Tobago into a developed
country by the year 2020, youth empowerment features prominently as a key
theme in Government’s actions.
My Government has taken action on two major fronts to address the decent
work challenges confronting the youth of Trinidad and Tobago within the
framework of the National Youth Policy adopted in 2004:
firstly, action to enhance the employability of young people through
the introduction of free tertiary education and a number of skills
development programmes; and
secondly, the promotion of youth entrepreneurship through the
development of small and micro enterprises.
In seeking to enhance the employability of our youth in Trinidad and Tobago,
my Government has been placing emphasis on improving the education and
training systems and services. The provision of quality education - from
nursery to tertiary – is being addressed through a number of strategic
interventions from the transformation of early childhood care and education
programmes to the provision of free tertiary education through the
Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) Programme and the
Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP). Additionally, our young people
are offered a range of on-the-job skills training programmes which provide
technical and vocational training relevant to the demands of the labour market
as well as life skills training which prepares them for productive working
lives.
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In our efforts to promote youth entrepreneurship, especially in relation to
small and micro enterprises, young persons in Trinidad and Tobago are
provided with assistance from business conceptualization through start-up and
to operation.
This is being achieved through various avenues including:
access to funding; establishment of business incubation facilities; and the
provision of training programmes in a range of areas including business
management, information and communication technologies, communications
and personal development.
On this note, please permit me to take this opportunity to congratulate the ILO
Sub Regional Office for the Caribbean, for its collaborative and pioneering
work with the Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme
Limited (YTEPP) of Trinidad and Tobago, in recently publishing an adapted
version of the ILO's "Start Your Business manual for potential entrepreneurs"
for Trinidad and Tobago. The manual aims to assist young entrepreneurs
through a simplified step-by-step process of starting a business - from
business idea to business plan and getting the business started. The manual
forms part of the instructional material that will be available to students of
YTEPP's six-month entrepreneurial training programme and present and
potential employers.
Collaborative efforts such as these are important in providing the foundation
for the prosperity of our youth. There can be no doubt that the promotion of
decent work for our future leaders is our collective responsibility. The cooperation of Governments, employers, trade unions and civil society in
developing, implementing and evaluating policies, programmes and projects
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to this end is an indispensable requisite for progress in combating the
challenges faced by our young people.
However, we must also recognize our individual responsibilities as decisionmakers, policy-makers and shapers of the future of the Americas. For
instance, trade unions are best placed to reach our youths in the workforce and
educate and nurture their development and abilities to adapt to the changing
world economic order. Employers and older workers have significant
experiences to share which combined with continuous training can unleash
their potential for innovation, increase speed of adaptation and reduce the
complexities to simple steps. To the rest of us, I would just say that our
survival depends on youth success so it is imperative that we do everything in
our power to ensure youth success.
In closing, I wish to reiterate my government’s position, and my own belief,
that decent work for our young people will lead to greater human prosperity
and by extension a better quality of life for the people of our hemisphere. I
know that we all will subscribe to the popular belief, that youth is associated
with hope, opportunity and growth, in short, the future.
In charting the development agenda for the region in this respect, we must be
mindful of the commitments and mandates which have been determined at the
IACML and previous Summits of the Americas – two processes which are
inextricably linked, two human realities that coexist; two fora in which labour
leaders and national leaders take on the major responsibility for our peoples’
welfare and development, within a multipartite context.
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As we forge ahead, towards the Fifth Summit of the Americas, let us
maximize and embrace the opportunity afforded to us to re-examine, reflect,
consult and achieve consensus on the key thematic areas of the Fifth Summit
so as to place the Americas on a more promising and sustainable path forward.
I thank you.
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