Summary (English)

One of the main objectives of the meeting was to concretise the recommendations of the ILO Asian and African Regional Meetings (in 2006 and
2007) on social security and provide orientation for the action of the International Labour Office in the framework of its Global Campaign for the
extension of social security till 2015.

The main elements of the discussions and the consequential action that the ILO suggests as a follow-up of the discussions are the following:

• identification of a set of policy approaches within which participating countries can pursue effective and progressive extension of the scope and coverage of social security, in particular to women, to the unemployed and to workers in the informal sector, and strengthening the governance of their social security schemes, based on the experience of the countries in the region;
• the ILO is committed to support national efforts towards full coverage and
  improved governance of social security in the Arab States of the Middle East and North Africa as a matter of priority in its Decent Work Country Programmes;
• ensuring that policy responses are well adapted to the national context, the ILO Campaign focuses on outcomes rather than process;
• a set of concrete measures that are being implemented along the lines of the recommendations of the African and Asian Regional Meetings held in 2006 and 2007. They range from the creation and dissemination of the knowledge base to the provision of advisory services and the monitoring of progress and hopefully to a very concrete programme of technical co-operation.