Papua New Guinea has welcomed plans for the Pacific Islands to have its own division within the International Labour Organisation.
PNG Labour Minister Alfred Manase (centre with traditional necklace) at ILO conference in Port Moresby July 2019 Photo: Melvin Levongo
PNG hosted the Pacific tripartite high-level forum on climate change and decent work last week in Port Moresby.
According to PNG's former Labour Minister, regional ILO members have come away with a renewed approach on how climate change and natural disasters affect workers.
Also, Mire Kipefa said PNG is providing technical assistance for the Pacific's move to expand its ILO presence from a desk to a fully-fledged office.
"And the other [thing] is to detach ourselves from the ASPAG group, which is the Asia Pacific and the Middle East, and now ILO has given us the assurance that the pacific will be a group of its own, to air and voice a lot of regional concerns at the Geneva ILO conference every year."
At the Forum, Pacific Island countries signed a resolution towards signing a declaration for the Blue Pacific Big Ocean States (BPBOS).
This is to provide a consultative body which will co-ordinate common labour issues of the ILO Pacific Island Member States linked to the ILO agenda.