SESRIC Receives a Delegation from the Ministry of Labour of the Republic of Turkey
Date: 02 February 2010
Venue: Ankara - Türkiye

Dr. Savaş Alpay, the Director General of SESRIC, has received a delegation from the General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety of the Ministry of Labour, Turkey, in his office on 02 February 2010. The delegation comprised of Mr. Kasım Özen, Director General of the General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety, Mr. İsmail Gerim, Deputy Director General, Mr. Coşkun Demirci, Director of Research and Training Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, and other two experts from the same Centre.

At the outset, the Director General of SESRIC, Dr. Savaş Alpay, expressed his thanks and welcome to the delegates and briefed them on the activities of the Centre in the three areas of mandate: research, statistics and training. He underlined the importance of occupational health and safety in OIC Member Countries, and stressed the need for cooperation and collaboration among relevant similar agencies operating in member countries; particularly in the field of capacity building. He informed the delegation about the Vocational Education and Training Programme of OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET) as a strong cooperation ground among similar organisations in member countries.

On his part, the Head of the delegation Mr. Kasım Özer, Director General of the General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety, expressed his thanks to the Director General of the Centre for his warm reception of the delegation and informed him that his directorate is ready to cooperate with the Centre in the field of occupational health and safety through exchanging technical expertise in technical training for the benefit of the OIC Member Countries. He also expressed his wish that OIC Member Countries would actively participate in the XIX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work; scheduled to be held on 11-15 September 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey, and which will be hosted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the Republic of Turkey together with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Social Security Association (ISSA).

After the welcoming of the Director General, a technical meeting was convened with the participation of heads of technical departments of the Centre and the experts from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Turkey, on the ways and means of possible cooperation in the area of occupational health and safety. During the meeting, the two parties briefed each other on the various activities of their institutions, particularly in the areas of economic research, statistics, training and technical cooperation. They conducted a fruitful discussion, in which they elaborated on many common areas of cooperation and identified several projects to be implemented in the upcoming years. These included the possibility of sharing and exchanging experiences in the areas of research and statistics, and the possibilities of co-organising some pilot projects under OIC-VET sub-programmes; such as exchange of professionals, transfer of innovation and training networks on issues of common interests for the OIC Member Countries.