Guyana to host the 12th ILO Meeting of Caribbean Ministers of Labour

The International Labour Organization's (ILO), Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour in Guyana, will host the Twelfth Subregional ILO Meeting of Caribbean Labour Ministers from 23-25 May 2023 in Georgetown, Guyana.

This Meeting will include the participation of Ministers of Labour and senior officials from thirteen ILO member States and nine non-metropolitan territories in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. Representatives from regional workers’ organizations and employers’ organizations will also be in attendance.

The three-day meeting will provide a forum for participating Caribbean world of work leaders to:

• exchange perspectives on the global, regional, and national actions required to accelerate the mainstreaming of social justice for transformative socio-economic development in the current multi-crisis context;
• address labour migration as a potential enabler of decent work and acceleration factor in Caribbean development, including the importance of systemic, rights-based, inclusive approaches, to addressing governance challenges in a hyper-mobile region; and
• examine Caribbean progress on Just Transition policy and institutional mechanisms and determine priorities for action and ILO technical assistance for the 2024-25 biennium.

The opening ceremony of the Twelfth Subregional ILO Meeting of Caribbean Labour Ministers will take place on Tuesday 23 May between 9.00-10.30 AM at the Grand Ballroom of the Guyana Marriott Hotel, Georgetown, Guyana.

Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General of the International Labour Organization, will attend the opening ceremony virtually to deliver feature remarks.

Other speakers include:

• His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana
• The Honourable Joseph Hamilton, Minister of Labour, Guyana
• Ms. Claudia Coenjaerts, Director, ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
• Mr. Dennis Zulu, Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean