World Congress of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
Sunday, December 5, 2004
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended the 18th World Congress of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which took place in Miyazaki City. This marks the first world congress meeting of the ICFTU to be held in Asia, and under the theme of "Globalising Solidarity: Building a Global Union Movement for the Future," approximately 1,500 people in the field of labor from roughly 150 countries and regions around the world participated. The main focus of the meeting is to discuss how to protect the working conditions of laborers and how they can construct solidarity among each other beyond geographical distances, as companies relocate their production bases to various countries and as goods and people move ever so rapidly. Another priority issue of the ICFTU is its merger with the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) in 2006, which has roughly 26 million union members, with the aim to unify and expand the international labor movement.
Prime Minister Koizumi attended and delivered an address at the opening ceremony, in which he said, "This is the first ICFTU World Congress in Asia. The world is deepening its mutual ties to an unprecedented level. I wish for active discussion to take place from the perspective of the working people."
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