Sustainable Development Goals
Unions in Moldova and Azerbaijan sign a cooperation agreement
Following a two-day conference in Baku, 8-9 May, both organizations signed an agreement that covers key areas including cooperation on the implementation of the ILO Decent Work Agenda, workers’ education, gender equality and labour migration.
ATUC President Sattar Mehbaliyev welcomed the agreement, stressing that it would help unions better protect the labour and social rights of workers.
“We are very happy to sign such an important agreement between our organizations,”Mehbaliyev said.
For unions in Moldova, this cooperation with Azerbaijan is a key step that will help reinforce social dialogue, which is needed to implement the SDGs. Thanking the ILO for its efforts, Oleg Budza, President of CNSM, stated that the agreement would help Moldova achieve “Continuous and effective social dialogue, with a sustainable positive impact for working people, including migrants.”
Organized by the ILO’s Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV), the Conference on Evaluating the Decent Work Agenda in the SDGs for trade unions brought together ILO officials, experts and leaders of unions from Moldova and Azerbaijan. During the Conference, Sergejus Glovackas, ACTRAV Desk Officer for Europe and Central Asia stressed that the ILO would continue to work with the trade unions of the two countries to implement this agreement.
Inviting unions to better utilize the ACTRAV Manual on SDGs, Glovackas emphasized that the ILO is ready to extend its support to all democratic trade unions in the region to build mutual solidarity and coordination to promote social justice and decent work.
Azerbaijan and Moldova are European target countries for the implementation of SGD Goal 8 on Decent Work for All.
The agreement signed in Baku was a first cooperation agreement between trade unions in SDG target countries in the frame of ILO assistance.
For more information, please contact:
Magnus Berge
Senior Specialist in Workers' Activities
ILO/Budapest
Tel:+36308646543