He told the regional ministers that improving the quality of human resources and creating more jobs went hand in hand with poverty reduction, social progress and equality.

"Over the past few years, the Government has paid special attention to this," Dung said in his opening statement at the 21st regional meeting (ALMM 21) in Ha Noi, which was held during Viet Nam's ASEAN chairmanship this year.

Viet Nam's social welfare legal system had gradually been upgraded and a number of programmes and projects on social development put into action with some results, he said.

The number of poor families nationwide had dropped to 11 per cent, a 2-per-cent decrease compared to last year, and the rate of trained workers had increased to 40 per cent of the workforce, a leapfrog of around 15 per cent compared to five years earlier, said Dung.

Viet Nam is carrying out a number of special projects and programmes to make a breakthrough in human resources mobilisation. The projects include an assistance programme for fast yet sustainable poverty alleviation in 62 of the country's poorest districts and a vocational training project for rural areas in the 2010-20 period.

A social welfare strategy to 2020 and a welfare system for the rural population from 2011-20 were also in the works, Dung added.

"In recent years, ASEAN co-operation in social fields in general and labour in particular has deeply improved, bringing about practical effectiveness," said Dung, who underlined that the regional labour ministers' meetings had helped member countries find solutions and co-operation activities to develop their human resources, create jobs, alleviate hunger and poverty, and ensure social security.

The leader, however, also pointed out a number of obstacles that regional countries were facing on their way to building the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

"The increasing hunger and poverty problem is one of the emerging issues," he said. "Other difficulties are the big gap between labour demand and supply, poor improvements to developing quality labour, and the limited improvements and protections of workers' rights."

Participants discussed measures and solutions to speed up implementation of the roadmap to build the ASEAN Community by 2015 and to bring the ASEAN Charter into life. The Charter, which came into force in 2008, is the roadmap for building the ASEAN Community and its legislation.

Regional labour ministers yesterday agreed to improve co-operation for an ASEAN community based on the people, and better co-operation in terms of labour to successfully establish a regional socio-cultural community in which all the labourers would have the opportunity to take full advantage of their abilities.

Promotion

Human resources development and the promotion of sustainable employment were among the top discussions at yesterday's meeting.

Dung praised the meeting's discussion topics, which also included developing and protecting migrant workers' rights, as they would help strengthen co-operation in ASEAN and go in line with the targets of sustainable employment and social equality initiated by the International Labour Organisation.

The meeting yesterday approved an action plan for the 2010-15 period, which emphasises developing a legal framework, improving government management capacity, strengthening the partnership relationship, and developing labour markets and the labour force.

The ministers all voiced their support for Viet Nam's initiation of the ASEAN statement to develop human resources and professional skills for economic recovery and growth, which will be submitted to the regional leaders for approval at the ASEAN Summit to be held in Ha Noi in July.

Later yesterday, the 7th ASEAN Plus Three Labour Ministers' Meeting (ALMM+3) was held with the participation of ASEAN's dialogue partners from China, Japan and South Korea. The meeting reviewed and evaluated co-operation activities over recent years and discussed ways and measures to further enhance labour co-operation between ASEAN and its dialogue partners, who reaffirmed their commitment and continued support to the region for human resources and skills development.

Source: VietnamNewss.