Sour: Industrial relations drive crucial investment

MINISTER of Labour and Vocational Training Heng Sour has appealed to all laboursector stakeholders to work together to further improve the industrial relations sector, in order to maintain Cambodia’s status as an attractive investment destination.

He made the request as he addressed an annual labour conference on “Progress of the industrial relations sector in Cambodia and a vision for the future”, organised by the Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations (CAMFEBA), on February 21.

Sour stressed the importance of partner organisations, unions and employers cooperating to promote industrial relations in the Kingdom. They should respect all of the existing regulations that have been established by the ministry, as it has the role of maintaining the balance of professional relations an ensuring harmony.

The minister asked the conference attendees to understand the government’s need to weigh and anticipate the competitiveness of other regional nation, in order to ensure that Cambodia maintains a competitive advantage and attracts investment.

He noted that investment creates additional job opportunities for young people.

He also highlighted the close attention the ministry pays to working conditions, increasing employment opportunities and providing a good working environment.

“To this end, the ministry has set the goal of strengthening the quality of labour inspectors and improving public trust, which is key to improving industrial relations,” he said.

Ky Sereyvath, an economics analyst at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, explained that strengthening the harmonisation of industrial relations, as well as vocational training, are important in the current Cambodian economic context because they are strategies which will attract investment.

He said that once the Kingdom has a skilled workforce of its own, it will attract largescale industrial investment, because these sectors require specialised labour.

He highlighted the importance of the seventh-mandate government’s vocational and technical training programme, which aims to provide training to 1.5 million vulnerable or impoverished youth.

Sereyvath suggested that the programme would give the Kingdom an advantage in the major investment competition in the region.