ARMENIAN DELEGATION PARTICIPATES IN 7TH REGIONAL MEETING OF INTERNATIONAL
LABOR ORGANIZATION IN BUDAPEST

BUDAPEST, FEBRUARY 16. ARMINFO. The 7th European Regional Meeting
of International Labor Organization opened in Budapest, Tuesday. A
delegation from Armenia headed by Minister for Labor and Social
Affairs Aghvan Vardanyan also participated in it.

The meeting participants gathered to discuss issues of economic reforms
and problems of globalization. Hungarian Prime Minister of and Prime
Minister of Luxemburg opened the meeting addressing a welcoming speech
to those present. ILO Director General Juan Samavia also spoke at
the opening ceremony.

The report of the organization says that despite high rates of economic
growth, during the last several years, the population’s incomes in the
CIS, including in RF, are lower than the level of 1989. The scales of
extreme poverty are still considerably enough in Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, Moldova (some 48% of the population).

The report draws attention to the issue of labor migration. In
conformity with different calculation, in 2000 22 mln foreign citizens
resided in Western Europe, including 3.3 mln people had no legal
status. In RF this figure was 5 mln people.

Wednesday, Minister for Labor and Social Affairs Aghvan Vardanyan will
make a report on the situation of labor market in Armenia and on the
socio-economic state of the population. The regional conference will
be completed on 18 February.