The Lebanese Designated Premier sponsors the opening of the Arab Employment Forum (AEF) on challenges and opportunities

The 4-day AEF discusses employment trends in the Arab world

Abu-Ghazaleh: "We need answers to all questions raised by challenges. You cannot manage what you cannot measure."

Beirut - 21 October 2009 ? The Arab Employment Forum (AEF) was convened on October 19, 2009 in Beirut under the Patronage of H.E. the Lebanese Designated Premier, Mr. Saad Al-Hariri, under the motto "Jobs Pact for Recovery and Growth". The AEF dedicates its current session for a 4-day high level dialogue on the challenges and opportunities posed by the global financial and economic crisis. The AEF has been co-organized and co-sponsored by the Arab Labor Organization (ALO) of the League of Arab States in coordination with the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The high ranking participants and attendants at the current AEF included Ministers of Labor, Deputy Ministers, and senior official from several Arab countries, senior ILO and ALO officials, senior policy makers, and high-level representative of labor associations and employers from the various parts of the Arab region.

Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh took part in the Forum as a key note speaker. He delivered a comprehensive speech in which he addressed, inter alia, the consequences of the global financial and economic crisis, the rapid changes and transitions-underway and expected- in the global economy, unemployment, the necessary painful restructuring processes and the most effective solutions.

He said that "the Global recession/depression will be with us throughout the next decade, during which we will see major geo-economic changes in a world passing through a quick transition helped by the rapidly advancing information and communication technologies (ICT), the unchallenged vehicle for change and development."

He talked about the facts and realty of the Arab education and unemployment, the Arab workforce mobility, illiteracy and IT literacy, and the role that the Arab Organization for Quality Assurance in Education (AROQA) can play.

Mr. Abu Ghazaleh, then, summed up the most effective solutions. He said that there must be changes in legislations, greater focus on training and vocational training in particular, more utilization of ICT, better education at schools and universities, inter-Arab labor programs and agreements and more collaboration especially with development oriented initiatives by the UNESCO, UN-GAID, UNGC and Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAGorg).
Panel and roundtable discussions in the Forum will cover the global jobs pact, decent employment, labor migration, social dialogue, international labor standards, social protection, and sustainable enterprises.

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