At a press briefing in Hanoi on April 5, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Trong Dam, who is also Head of the Vietnamese delegation to the ASCC, said that the establishment of the Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children is one of Vietnam’s initiatives as ASCC chairs in 2010.

At the conference, ASCC member countries will propose priority areas to develop social welfare for women and children who make up more than 50 percent of the ASEAN population. They will discuss ways to cope with global challenges including climate change to enhance cooperation within the bloc, especially in implementing agreements on natural disaster management and emergency response.

The conference will also look at building human resources for economic recovery and development so as to reduce job loss, poverty and inequality due to the impact of economic crisis and enhance the capability and the competitiveness of ASEAN human resources to adapt to labour immigration in the region and technological advances.

It will focus on assessing the implementation of the ASCC master scheme approved at the 14th ASEAN summit in Thailand last year.

The master scheme includes the development of individual human potential, social welfare and protection, social justice, ensuring sustainable protection of the environment and building the ASEAN character.