By 
By Ross Moyo
Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Hon Edgar Moyo, has been nominated as President of the 113th International Labour Conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Switzerland, representing Zimbabwe. The nomination was made by the Government group, global employers, and workers’ groups.
Minister Moyo expressed optimism in leveraging challenges to help rapid technological advancement, digitalisation and use of Artificial Intelligence, amongst a host of other measures to be taken on the International scene by countries that ratify the International Labor Organization (ILO).
In his Remarks at the Opening Ceremony of the 113th session of the International Conference on Monday 2 June 2025 held at the Palais des Nations, United Nations, Geneva Switzerland, Zimbabwe’s Minister implored the world to take note.”It gives me great pleasure to address you this morning as we gather to begin the work of the 113th session of the International Labour Conference. At the outset, allow me to express on behalf of the Zimbabwe tripartite delegation, our profound appreciation to the Government Group’s nomination, and endorsement by the Employers and Workers groups for Zimbabwe to preside over this historic Conference.Zimbabwe is honoured to assume the Presidency of the Conference and I wish to assure you of my commitment and dedication to ensuring that the Conference will achieve all its objectives.”Moyo said every challenge can be solved stating, “Distinguished delegates, we embark on this two-week journey of the work of the Conference, amid various developments in the world of work, many of which include opportunities for us to leverage on and challenges that we have to collectively address. These include the growing informal economy across the world, unemployment and underemployment particularly for the youth, rapid technological advancement, digitalisation and use of Artificial Intelligence, demographic shifts and the impact of climate change in the world of work. This current session of the Conference will provide us with an opportunity to take stock of these developments and challenges and provide solutions of tackling them.”
Zimbabwe’s Public Service and Social Welfare Minister invited world governments to take note from the Committees that the Conference has constituted, that they have before them a full agenda that will require a lot of dedication, collaboration and above all flexibility in the negotiations in the standard setting committees. This year’s Conference is unique in that it will have two standard setting items, whose work is expected to contribute to the body of international labour standards.
The Committee on the prevention of biological hazards will conduct its second discussion following up from the robust and intense discussions of last year and the Committee on the platform economy will begin its work this year. Given the strategic role that international labour standards play in building our economies and societies, the work of the Committees should culminate in the recommendation to plenary of instruments that can be universally applied, taking into account the regional differences while upholding fair, just and inclusive standards for all workers and employers of the world.
The work of the standard setting committees will therefore require maximum effort from the tripartite constituents to ensure positive outcomes as the conference will receive and deliberate on the report of the Governing Body since the last conference as well as the report of the Director General. This will provide the Conference with an opportunity to be apprised of the work of the Governing Body. The Director General will also provide the Conference with insights on the current situation of the global labour market and suggestions on what is needed to collectively work on to address challenges facing the labour market today to ensure socio-economic growth in countries, the protection of workers rights and sustainable enterprises.
Moyo reminded delegates work of the Conference will also include, a standing agenda item on discussions on application of international labour standards through the Committee on Application of Standards. The work of this Committee remains critical to ensuring that they continue to give effect to fair labour standards in their countries with hope and expectation that the discussions will be constructive and positively contribute to strengthening social dialogue which is important in the resolution of disputes.
The work of the ILO relies on a supportive budget and the Conference will also receive the programme and budget proposals for the 2026-2027 biennium. Moyo looked forward to adopting the budget to enable all the objectives and aspirations of this organisation to be realised.
He added that, “Finally, distinguished delegates, while we will differ in our respective views in the work before us, may we remain united with the resolve to see the success of this conference which will positively impact the global labour market. I wish you all very fruitful deliberations in the course of the next two weeks.”
Present at the ILO United Nations Conference was Vice President of the Conference representing the Governments;Vice President of the Conference representing Employers Group;Vice President of the Conference representing Workers Group; Excellencies, Heads of Delegations and leaders of the social partners; and other Distinguished delegates.
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