December 11, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 30, 1428

KARACHI, Dec 10: Peace, political stability, good governance, social justice, adequate social protection and rule of law and security of property rights are some of the fundamental conditions for promotion of sustainable enterprises to tackle poverty issue in any country.

This was stated by the executive director of ILO’s employment sector, Mr Salazar-Xirinachs, while speaking to a gathering of entrepreneurs on Monday.

In his keynote address on the “role of employers in socio economic growth’’ at a gathering, organised by the Employers’ Federation of Pakistan, Mr Salazar presented conclusions drawn from the worldwide tri-partite discussions in the ILO member countries (labour, entrepreneurs and the government) on issue of sustainable promotion of enterprises to reduce poverty and unemployment by way of creating opportunities for “decent jobs.’’

“By decent jobs, I mean work with dignity and prosperity for the poor,’’ Salazar replied to a question from Dawn.

Pakistan, he said, has been a leading country in this sub region with annual average growth rate in labour productivity of 2.9 per cent between 1980 and 2005.

He quoted from ILO studies to illustrate his point that productivity levels increased over the past decade for almost all regions but increase at an accelerated pace was witnessed in East Asia where output per labour almost doubled.

About 50 per cent increase in productivity, he said, was observed in Central and South Eastern Europe and South Asia.

In the global context of accelerating economic growth, Mr Salazar informed that poverty is on the decline.

He pointed out that incidence of poverty decreased from 29 per cent of the global population in 1990 to 18 per cent in 2004.

If the current trends continue, he was confident that the Millennium Development Goal of reducing extreme poverty by 50 per cent from 1990 level by 2015 would be achieved.

Globally, he said the World Bank visualises 12 per cent population living below one dollar a day income by 2015.

While sharing the Tripartite ILO vision with the participants of conference on Monday, Mr Salazar outlined three fundamental issues which were (i) precise definition of the pillars that constitutes an environment conducive to sustainable environment enterprise. (ii) six guiding principles have been set for the enterprises to follow and (iii) main elements of the role of government were identified and role of social partners defined for sustainable enterprises.

“First and foremost, sustainable enterprises require peace and political stability,’’ he declared while pointing out that wars and civil conflicts not only destroy lives and dreams, they also poison the soil, where entrepreneurs can grow.

Peace and stability can be sustained in societies where efforts are made to improve governance and social justice.

“Only where there is respect for universal human rights and international labour standards and where social dialogue is valued rather than feared, entrepreneurs can grow,’’ he stressed.

Mr Salazar elaborated on the role of government providing an enabling environment for growth of enterprises and the role of social partners.