Kuala lumpur: International Labour Organisation (ILO) director-general Gilbert F. Houngbo has praised Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong as one of the region's most dynamic and visionary labour ministers. Houngbo said Sim's leadership in championing the ASEAN Year of Skills 2025 truly reflects Malaysia's commitment to empowering the region's workforce for the future and affirming ILO's readiness to support Malaysia and ASEAN in achieving this vision.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Houngbo highlighted the importance of addressing the transformative changes in the world of work, driven by technological innovation, artificial intelligence, green and digital transitions, demographic changes, and new forms of employment. Speaking at the ASEAN Year of Skills (AYOS) 2025: Global Skills Forum (GSF), he emphasized that these changes present opportunities for growth but also pose risks of widening inequalities if workers and enterprises lack the skills to adapt.
Houngbo stressed that skills development and lifelong learning are central to a human-centred future of work. He highlighted the need for strong partnerships between governments, employers, and workers to unlock productivity, social inclusion, and resilience. He urged governments to provide policies, investment, and incentives, while workers' organisations ensure training opportunities are fair, accessible, and rights-based. Employers, he noted, play a crucial role in linking learning to economic needs.
Houngbo identified three key areas where joint action can make a significant impact. First, innovation, where emerging technologies like AI should be people-centred, ethical, and inclusive. Second, inclusion, ensuring that every worker has the opportunity to learn, reskill, and upskill, including those in the informal economy, persons with disabilities, and those in rural areas. Third, investment, which requires adequate financing through public budgets, levy schemes, and co-investment by enterprises to sustain learning opportunities.
He concluded by mentioning the ILO's Skills and Lifelong Learning Strategy 2030, which calls for collective action linking national policies, sectoral initiatives, and international cooperation to close skills mismatches and advance social justice.