2010

Free Flow of Skilled Labour Study

ASEAN AUSTRALIA DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION PROGRAM (AADCP Phase II)

Project Team: Robyn Iredale, Tim Turpin, Charles Stahl and Tepin Getuadisorn

The achievement of free flow of skilled labour in ASEAN is a key element of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint, focusing on the managed mobility of facilitated entry for the movement of natural persons engaged in the trade in goods, services and investment. The current situation suggests that there are varying degrees of commitment to the liberalization of regulations for the free flow of skilled labour across Member States.

In order to gather insights about the current progress toward the free flow of skilled labour and to prepare inputs for future work-programs, the ASEAN Secretariat commissioned a study on The Free Flow of Skilled Labour. MATES Consulting conducted the project in 2010.

Under the project terms of reference, interviews were conducted in eight Member States and a workshop was conducted in Kuala Lumpur.  The final report covered the following:

     • current issues and challenges facing the liberalization of the free flow of skilled labour  across ASEAN Member States (AMS) were identified;

     • options for the workplans of relevant ASEAN cross-sector bodies were identified; and,

     • recommendations and approaches for AMS to address issues and challenges towards the achievements of the free flow of skilled labour.

The full report is available on the ASEAN Secretariat website.

2010-11

2011

Capacity Building for Philippine Tripartite Partners on Movement of Natural Persons and Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MNP and MRA)

Project conducted by Robyn Iredale

MNP and MRA Technical Report.pdf

The Trade Related Technical Assistance Project 2 (TRTA 2) is a development cooperation initiative by and between the Republic of the Philippines (RP) and the Commission of the European Communities (EC). The overall objective ‘is to support sustainable poverty reduction in the Philippines through further integration into the international trade system’. The specific purpose ‘is to enhance the capacity of selected Government agencies and state actors’ for deeper integration into the system. It has four components, as follows:

1.    Capacity building for trade policy and export development

2.    Standards harmonization and SPS conformity

3.    Trade facilitation

4.    Rapid response facility

As part of this project, Robyn Iredale was commissioned to:

1)    Design training modules on Movement of Natural Persons (MNP) and Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRA);

2)    Conduct 3 sets of workshops for (a) Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) negotiators,(b) employers and (c) workers’ representatives, so that they are trained on and able to negotiate arrangements for MNP and mutual recognition.

Training materials are available by contacting Robyn Iredale.