Forum discusses social security challenges, goals
MUSCAT: Developments and challenges in the social insurance for Asia and the Pacific would be discussed at a forum that kicked off here yesterday.
The Regional Social Security Forum for Asia and the Pacific began at Al Bustan Palace Hotel on Monday under the auspices of His Highness Sayyid Shihab bin Tariq Al Said. The three-day forum is being organised by the Public Authority for Social Insurance (PASI), in collaboration with International Social Security Association (ISSA).
At the forefront
Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri, Minister of Manpower, Chairman of the PASI Board of Directors, said the forum, being held the first time in the Middle East and the third in the AsiaPacific region and hosted by the Sultanate, is hosting 200 experts and specialists who will present experiences that will enrich the debate and come up with more effective proposals and recommendations for the next stage.
Working papers
Working papers will be presented at the forum and the experiences related to social security and the global concerns about social protection of the workforce in the labour markets, will be discused, he said.
He added that the forum would review the social security experiences in the Sultanate, saying that the Sultanate and the 31 participating countries in 51 insurance, investment and retirement organisations will benefit from the forum and come up with effective and viable recommendations that would serve the workforce in the labour market in accordance with the next economic conditions.
The challenges
Errol Frank Stoove, President of ISSA, said in his speech at the opening ceremony of the forum that the event aims to discuss developments and challenges in the social insurance for Asia and the Pacific as it represents 60 per cent of the world’s population and its economy grows upward compared to other regions of the world.
He noted that this economic growth is matched by the growth in social insurance.
Stoove, Saleh bin Nasser Al Araimi, Director General of PASI and Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, Secretary General of ISSA held a press conference on the sidelines of the forum’s opening session.