ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: The federal cabinet here on Saturday approved a new labour policy to meet the challenges of globalization and emerging technologies, giving new directions for improvement and guidance in the labour sector.

The meeting was presided over by President Gen Pervez Musharraf, the details of which were given by secretary information Syed Anwar Mahmood at a news conference.

The new labour policy also aims to comply with the fundamental principles and rights of labourers contained in the Constitution, international conventions and labour standards.

The basic approach of the new labour policy is to promote bilateralism between the employers and the employees.

The approval was also accorded to an amendment in the Companies Profits (Workers Participation) Act to revise the category of workers which was necessitated by the raising of the minimum wages by the government last year.

The meeting further approved the draft Industrial Relations Ordinance 2002 to replace IRO 1969 to promote congenial industrial relations leading to economic progress and prosperity in the country. The Ordinance embodies the spirit of the constitutional provision, ILO conventions ratified by Pakistan and the globalization process of the economies, investment drives and higher productivity moves. It has been drafted in consultation with both the workers and the employers as well as the provincial governments.

The cabinet allowed Wapda to import five million litres of HSD directly from Iran at the applicable rate of customs duty. It will enable Wapda to reduce the generation cost of electricity for the Makran coast where it is incurring annual loss of nearly Rs500 million on account of high transportation cost of high speed diesel.

To give legal effect to the change in the ratio of the distribution of the divisible taxes amongst the provinces as recommended by the 5th National Finance Commission, the cabinet approved an ordinance to amend Article 4 of the President’s Order No. 1 of 1997. The amendment enables adoption of population ratios according to the new census in pursuance of clause (4) of Article 160 of the Constitution.

The cabinet also approved conversion of the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) into an autonomous corporation to streamline, improve and enlarge it as a public information medium. The affairs of the newly established APP Corporation will be managed by a board of directors with five members each from the public and private sector. The secretary of the ministry of information will chair the meting of board of directors which will include media professionals, academics and the president of CPNE.