51st APO Governing Body Meeting
20−22 April 2009, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Inaugural Address
By
Hon. Athauda Seneviratne
Minister of Labour Relations and Manpower
Hon. Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka; Dr.Mahmood Ghanizadeh , Chairman Governing Body of the APO;
Mr. Shigeo Takenaka, Secretary-General of Asian Productivity Organization;
Mr. Mahinda Madihahewa, Secretary, Ministry of Labour Relations and Manpower; Esteemed Directors of Member Countries of the Asian Productivity Organization;
Advisors, Observers, Staff members of APO;
Distinguished Invitees and guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am very much pleased and feel privileged to have associated with you at this important event, of the inauguration of the 51st session, of the governing body of the APO.
This session is very important for all delegates from member countries of APO, joining from Teheran to Tokyo cutting across the Asian continent, bringing together the countries which are large and small, developed and developing, that have a diverse range of enterprises established in the efforts of socio and economic development, of their countries.
At the very outset, I wish to place on record my sincere gratitude to the APO, and all member countries for having selected Sri Lanka as the venue of this important meeting, which meets annually to select the new APO Chairs, and Vice-Chairs, receive the Secretary General’s annual report, and the auditors financial report, set directions for the ensuing fiscal year’s program, approve the budget and financial guidelines. This meeting also acts as a venue for exchanging information and views, on present day critical issues faced by the member countries, and how the productivity movement could collectively address these issues.
I am also happy to note that APO has selected a very appropriate topic, “Productivity and the global financial crisis” as the main theme of this year’s Governing Body considering its importance in the socio-economic and financial issues in our countries.
APO’s role in the context of productivity enhancement is extremely vital. APO is committed to contribute to the socio-economic development of its member countries, and improve quality of life of their people through productivity enhancement in the sprit of mutual cooperation among its members. It has established operational networking with the designated National Productivity Organizations, which act as national change agents for productivity promotion and as implementing agencies of APO member countries.
In Sri Lanka we have been able to move into new realms of productivity growth, making use of the parameters included in our productivity policy, and the “Mahinda Chinthana”- the national agenda for development of the country. In line with this agenda, a Presidential Task Force for Productivity Improvement has been established, to act as a policy formulating body to eliminate impediments of productivity movement, and to enhance quality of life of the people of Sri Lanka, through the promotion of productivity. The expected target is to achieve an average of 5 percent annual productivity growth for the nation as a whole, during the next couple of years by increasing productivity in all sectors of the economy. This will enable the country to achieve at least 8 – 10 percent economic growth in the years to come.
In view of the present global economic crisis a high level tripartite discussion at the ILO Governing Body was held recently, where the ILO has called for a “Global Jobs Pact” to forestall a severe jobs crisis that would lead to a massive increase in unemployment and working poverty. A study of the International Institute of Labour Studies has revealed that, according to the demographic projections’ nearly 90 million new jobs would be needed in 2009-2010 period, to absorb new entrants to the labour market. A large share of this demand would be from Asia and the Pacific countries. Hence, we need to implement a coherent and coordinated job oriented recovery strategy based on sustainable enterprises as soon as possible. ILO has also described that international coordination to tackle the crisis as weak.
Therefore, at this crucial meeting of the Governing Body of the APO, member countries should focus their discussions on how we can cooperate with each other and coordinate our efforts towards tackling the crisis through creating new decent work opportunities, and sharing the productivity gains, as it plays a very important role in resolving the financial crisis.
Since the subject of productivity was assigned to the Ministry of Labour Relations and Manpower, a National Productivity Policy was formulated and the National Productivity Secretariat was established in order to implement the policy initiatives. During the past few years, we were able to strengthen the linkages with APO, and were able to obtain substantial assistance to enhance the capacity of the Secretariat. As a result, the National Productivity Secretariat has been able to take the productivity message to the grass root level. These had led to the improvement of a large number of schools, private and public sector institutions which contributed to higher achievements in productivity.
As a result of the assistance provided by APO, several programs such as development of demonstration companies, technical expert services, multi-country study missions have been carried out, all of which have led to a significant improvement in our productivity campaign.
As a large section of our economy is covered by small and medium enterprises, we have initiated a productivity promotion program in the SME sector in collaboration with APO and the Japanese Productivity Centre for Socio Economic Development.
We also have implemented many technical assistance programs and member country support programs, E-learning programs and have established a Best Practice Network among companies in order to disseminate advance knowledge on productivity techniques and methodologies.
I hope that this meeting will be able to come up with some innovative and constructive recommendations, on how the member countries could support each other in facing the current financial crisis in their countries, whereby using improved productivity as the major tool.
Before winding up, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Hon. Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka for accepting our invitation to grace the occasion and to deliver the key note address. It is indeed an honor to have you at this important session of the productivity movement.
I wish all the delegates, advisors, observers and the APO Officials a Happy and an Enjoyable stay in Sri Lanka and wish the 51st session of the Governing Body of the APO all successes.
Thank you
