NEW DELHI: “The road map laid down in the Memorandum of Understanding will facilitate very close cooperation and interaction between our two countries and bring about improvements in the life of workers and their working conditions.” This was emphasized by Mallikarjun Kharge, Union Minister for Labour & Employment on the occasion of signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with US Department of Labour in Washington DC yesterday. The MoU was signed by Shri Kharge and US Labour secretary Ms. Hilda Solis.
Shri Kharge expressed happiness that Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India and US Department are signing the MoU for cooperation in the areas of Skill Development, Youth Employment, Occupational Safety and Health and Mines Safety. He further expressed the hope that this MoU will help us in increasing our know-how in the areas of accreditation systems, self-regulation and auditing through collaboration, exchange and sharing of ideas, etc with USA.
Shri Kharge said that we look forward for a possible tie-up for training and information exchange in areas of underground and open cast mining, disaster control , emergency management, statistical analysis and development of data bank. He further mentioned that Government of India looks forward to work together for furthering its knowledge in the area of occupational diseases, toxicology and occupational medicine.
US Labour Secretary Ms. Hilda Solis welcomed the structured bilateral engagement between the Ministry of Labour of India and US Department of Labour. She appreciated the initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Labour under Shir Kharge’s leadership to address various challenges of skill development, youth development, occupational safety, health, etc.
Shri Kharge reiterated PM’s vision of skilling 500 million persons by 2022. He stated that collaboration with USA will enrich us in the areas of training delivery methods, certification, preparation of instructional material, curriculum development and expanding outreach. He stressed the need for cooperation and collaboration in mutual recognition of qualifications, vocational guidance to the unemployed youth and rehabilitation of differently-abled persons.
This MoU will be another milestone and testimony to the increasing cooperation between India and USA in various strategic areas and this will help us in further developing an appropriate employment strategy for inclusive growth in India and strong bonds between the people of our two great nations, the Minister added.
