Vietnam and three countries Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand will receive US$1 million in funding from China for 2023 under the “Promoting the Global Development Initiative with a Focus on South-South Cooperation in Employment in ASEAN” (ProSSCE-ASEAN) project.

The launch event brings together policymakers and social partners from Southeast Asia in Bangkok, Thailand for a two-day seminar. Photo: ILO

The International Labor Organization (ILO) and China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) are partnering on the project, which will focus on generating and sharing knowledge, promoting policy dialogue and capacity development, and supporting policymakers in addressing labor market issues in the region. 

The project will facilitate the sharing of good practices and lessons learned between ASEAN member states and China through a regional knowledge-sharing network to ensure productive employment and decent work for all.

In Vietnam, the project will focus on evaluating existing entrepreneurship programs, recommending policy dialogue processes, and implementing entrepreneurship policies. The ultimate goal is to create more decent jobs for the country's youth.

Chihoko Asada-Miyakawa, ILO's Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, said the project would help address significant employment challenges and develop a new generation of employment policies and strategies that can contribute to a human-centered recovery as well as more equitable and just societies.

The ProSSCE-ASEAN initiative is expected to expand to other Southeast Asian countries in the future and represents a significant step towards promoting South-South Cooperation and improving the quality of employment opportunities in the region.