Labour ministers of ASEAN countries held a meeting yesterday through video conferencing to discuss responses to impacts of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on employees and employments in the member countries.
The meeting was organized by the Ministry of Human Resources in Malaysia. Myanmar’s Union Minister U Thein Swe and senior officers joined the meeting, together with the labour ministers and high-ranking officials from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Secretary-General of ASEAN Mr Dato Lim Jock Hoi and ILO Director-General Mr Guy Ryder also discussed at the meeting.
The Secretary-General talked about impacts of COVID-19 on public health, economy, trade and tourism sectors of member countries, ILO’s response survey on the pandemic and the post pandemic recovery plan of International Labour Organization.
Union Minister U Thein Swe discussed Myanmar government’s assistance to the labour and private sectors, awareness programmes, quarantine centres, discount of electricity bill in April and food supplies to the families without regular incomes.
After the discussions of ASEAN members, the ILO’s director-general explained plans of his organization to help with the recovery plans in the prioritized areas of economic and financial sectors, supports for recovery of regular incomes, healthcare services for employees and finding solutions in adopting effective policies.
The meeting also agreed on ensuring livelihood, health and other rights for the labourers in high risky jobs, healthcare services for the disease infected workers without discrimination, healthcare for workers from their host countries, protection them from the impacts of pandemic, adopting effective and responsive policy for labour market at national and regional levels and sharing the results from researches for post pandemic and recovery plan among employers, state social organizations, international organizations and relevant stakeholders.—MNA
(Translated by Aung Khin)
