Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Azerbaijan will chair the Committee on Labour and Social Protection of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for the next two years.

This was stated at a meeting of labor ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member-states held in Baku on Thursday.

Speaking at the meeting, OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said Azerbaijan is actively involved in development of programmes, training and initiatives of international organizations.

Ihsanoglu said further that the OIC member states have suffered from the consequences of the global crisis. "As a result, the unemployment rate increased and investments reduced. However, there is no analogue in the world of the measures taken in these countries for developing the labor market during the crisis."

"In the OIC countries, the unemployment rate (more than 9 percent per year) was higher than in the world countries (averagely 6-8 percent) in 2006-2010," Ihsanoglu said.

Now, the average unemployment rate in the OIC countries is 14 per cent and exceeds 20 per cent among young people.

Turkish Labour and Social Development Minister Faruk Celik, who also attended the meeting, told media that the OIC countries should coordinate their forces to address the problem of unemployment.

Celik said the OIC countries consider several projects to reduce unemployment rate, improve working conditions and ensure social insurance.

The holding of the OIC labour ministers' meeting in Baku is very important, as Azerbaijan is a country that demonstrates high rate of development.

Addressing the meeting, Azerbaijani Minister of Labor and Social Protection Fizuli Alakbarov said that the consequences of the global financial and economic crisis have also affected Azerbaijan and therefore, cooperation within the international organizations, including the OIC, is very important.

"These meetings are very important from the point of studying the experience of other countries in this area and examining the measures of improving the effectiveness of using labor resources, productivity and reducing tension on the labor market," Alakbarov said.

Alakbarov went on to say that holding of the conference in Azerbaijan is not a coincidence, as the country plays the role of a bridge between Europe and Asia.

The Baku meeting was aimed to create a solid platform for cooperation among the OIC countries, exchange the progressive ideas and innovations, develop the labor market in the OIC countries, increase the labor potential, ensure the workforce in the level of international standards and reduce the unemployment rate and improve the population's welfare.

The participating countries will adopt the Baku framework document, which will form the basis for further cooperation among the OIC countries in the field of labor and social protection at the end of the conference on Friday.

This document will include an action plan for years to come. The next Ministerial Conference will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2015.