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12.
Mr Carlos Menem, President of the Argentina Republic addressed the Conference on 7 June 1993, and Mr Ian Iliescu, President of Romania on 16. Mr Menem spoke on the adverse effects of protectionism, on the development of democracy and hence human rights in developing countries, on the danger of an over-generous state stifling private initiative and the creation of wealth and on the need for employers, workers and the government to act as social partners in economic development.
13.
Mr Iliescu, President of Romania, spoke on the difficulties in the transition from a planned economy to a market economy and the vital importance of economic development as a means of achieving social protection. He cited tripartite co-operation and vocational training as pre-requisites for economic development.
14.
Of some relevance to Hong Kong is the speech by Mr LEE Boon-yang, Minister for Labour of Singapore. He spoke of the need for governments to work out strategies and goals which are appropriate to their own circumstances, within the framework of their countries' history, culture and stage of political development. He called upon the ILO to review its existing standard-setting process to take into account the different economic and political conditions and circumstances prevailing in the developing countries and emerging newly industrialised economies. Mr Lee's appeal was repeated by some of the Association of South-Eastern Asian Nations (ASEAN).
15.
(a)
(b)
The ASEAN group in fact proposed a resolution that :
the ILO should immediately review and update existing labour conventions and standards, to enable flexible implementation of such conventions and standards in labour administration and their more meaningful and pragmatic application;
the report containing the results and recommendations of the review should be tabled at the 81st Session of the International Labour Conference in 1994.
However, this proposed resolution was not discussed at the Resolution Committee for lack of time.
16.
The two presidents' and Mr Lee's speeches are available at the Labour Department's library.
Work of the Committees
Finance Committee and Committee on Apartheid
17.
The work of the Finance Committee and the Committee on Apartheid does not concern Hong Kong at all.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.