Sofia hosted the 5th ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Labour and Employment Ministers' Conference on the topic of: Towards Sustainable Social Development in Asia and Europe: A joint Vision for Decent Work and Social Protection.

The participants coming from over 40 countries included delegations from the world’s most advanced economies like China, Japan, Australia and Germany. The forum was chaired by Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour Ivailo Kalfin. In his words the declaration of the countries that took part in the ASEM conference envisages a series of economic development measures of shared interest.

Here is Minister Kalfin with more about Bulgaria’s contribution to the dialogue aimed at asserting fair working conditions:

“The message I myself would like to convey to the ministers from Europe and Asia is that the more good practices we exchange, the better the effect on the labour market. The challenge every economy now faces is labour mobility. Young people frequently move from place to place, change jobs and what we have to do is create the corresponding conditions of labour, whichever the country. One of the issues is connected with the manufacture of commodities, whatever they may be, which travel across different countries - it is vital that the standards are upheld – preventing child labour or coercion of workers, paying decent salaries and abiding by the principles of decent work. Bulgaria’s contribution to upholding these standards is our work on the programmes of youth employment, the improvement of working conditions and the excellent dialogue between the social partners and the government.”

Youth unemployment was accorded particular attention at the labour ministers’ conference. The participants acknowledged the negative tendency of a decline in the number of young people in the EU parallel with an increase in the number of unemployed in the 18-30 age bracket.

European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility and moderator of the discussions in Sofia Marianne Thyssen stated that the measures for encouraging youth employment were part of a broader regional and economic policy, so they must be accompanied by unanimous decisions made higher up, for example at venues such as this ASEM conference. Commissioner Thyssen:

English version: Milena Daynova