Regional Conference

Asean Employers: Empowering People Priortizing Skills

Asean Confederation of Employers (ACE) Regional Conference

The ASEAN Confederation of Employers (ACE) brings together nine (9) employer organizations: National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Brunei Darussalam (NCCIBD), Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations (CAMFEBA), Employers' Association of Indonesia (APINDO), Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LNCCI), Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF), Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), and Employers Confederation of Thailand (ECOT) in the ASEAN. It was established in 1978 to optimize liaison, cooperation, and representation in the fields of labour and social legislation, industrial relations and practices among themselves and in relation to the international community.

The ACE regional conference  ASEAN EMPLOYERS: Empowering People Priortizing Skills covered the following topics:
  • The future of Workforce: What's Up and What's Next on Skills Development;
  • Challenges and Opportunities: Employer Perspective on Skills, Innovation and Competition;
  • Strategies and Responses: Bridging Gaps, Creating Solutions on Skills Development;
  • Public-Private Sector Partnerships: Scaling Up Skills Interventions;
  • Role of Employers and Business Membership Organizations: Advancing the Agenda on Skills for Enterprise Development;
  • Adoption of the ACE Framework on Skills Development.
The Conference targets officers and members of employer and business membership organizations, executives and industry leaders from 10 ASEAN Member States; policy makers involved in skills development, training and educational institutions.

The objectives of the conference were to:
  1. Analyse the state of skills development according to perspective of ASEAN employers of where ASEAN employers are in terms of skills development.
  2. Promote collective engagement of ASEAN employers to ensure more responsive policies and regulations on skills at the national and regional levels.
  3. Showcase good/best practices on skills development and identify ways of replicating them across the ASEAN region.
  4. Promote cooperation, collaboration and synergies within the ASEAN business community on skills development through an "ACE Framework on Skills Development" articulating the priorities.