The Ministry of Labour has organised an awareness and training seminar on the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), in co-operation with the Ministry of Transport, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).
The seminar was attended by HE MoL's Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs Mohamed Hassan al-Obaidly, Ministry of Transport's Assistant Undersecretary of Maritime Transport Affairs Dr Saleh bin Fetais al-Marri, and Director of the International Labour Standards Department of the ILO Corinne Varga, Head of the ILO Office in Doha Max Tunon, Regional Secretary of the International Transport Workers' Federation Bilal Malkawi, and Legal Director at the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) Ruwan Subasinghe.



The seminar comes within the framework of strategic co-operation between Qatar and the international trade unions and ITF to introduce the importance of maritime transport and to strike a balance between the interests of both the worker and employer, as a cornerstone that contributes to the stability of transport worldwide. The seminar discussed the importance of addressing persistent labour issues in the maritime transport sector, especially those revealed during the Covid-19 pandemic and the massive fallout that has stricken the sector and the living conditions of seafarers.
During the dialogue session, Malkawi, expressed his desire to sign a co-operation agreement with the Maritime Transport Affairs with the aim of enhancing co-operation between the two sides, especially with regard to training and rehabilitation. During Qatar's chairing of the fourth plenary session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in its 110th session, last June, the amendments to the Maritime Labour Convention were approved by majority of the ILC's General Assembly, which is marked as a momentous historic event for ILO, further improving the work environment for workers in marine sector.
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