Strengthening union communications in Asia and the Pacific

KOREA:  Representatives of seven IMF affiliates from five countries came to Seoul, South Korea to participate in the regional communicators' forum held on June 22 and to discuss communications in South East Asia and the Pacific.

The participants from Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Korea and Singapore learnt about the existing IMF communication channels and news policy, and discussed different aspects of the communication work within the IMF as well as  how they can contribute to its further improvement.

During the forum the regional office for South Asia presented its plans for a new 16 page magazine to be published by the IMF for the Asia and Pacific region. Forum participants received an update on the content of the first issue, which features the shipbreaking industry in South Asia, notorious for its extremely hazardous and poor health and safety conditions, and a report on the impact of the recent tsunami and earthquake on metalworkers in Japan. The magazine also contains an interview with the IMF Executive Committee member Dr. Sanjeeva Reddy talking about labour movement in India.

The participants welcomed the new magazine Asia Pacific Metal, which will be launched in July both in printed and electronic versions and will be available for download on the IMF website.

During the forum participants expressed their wish to have a better involvement of the regional office in their activities and requested that IMF publish a more balanced mix of news on its website from the countries in the Asia and the Pacific region.

The participants have been reminded of the existing different IMF thematic subscription lists and agreed that every affiliate in the region will define a person for direct contacts with IMF and will help to enlarge the IMF distribution lists by providing electronic addresses of their members encouraging their better involvement in implementation of the IMF and its affiliates global agenda.