Discussion Centers on Skill Mobility in the ASEAN Region

On Oct. 2, 2015, JICA Research Institute held a seminar at the JICA Ichigaya Building entitled "Achieving Skill Mobility in the ASEAN Economic Community: Challenges, Opportunities and Policy Implications."

For many years, JICA has continually engaged in human resource development in the countries of ASEAN, including tertiary education and occupational training. Against this backdrop, Ichiro Tambo, director of the JICA Research Institute, participated in the Roundtable Conference of High-Level Experts on "Achieving Skill Mobility in the ASEAN Economic Community: Challenges, Opportunities and Policy Implications" sponsored by the ADB and the MPI on the island of Bali, Indonesia, May 11-12, 2015. JICA Vice President Hiroshi Kato attended the "Bali Conference on Skill Mobility in ASEAN: Progressing Towards the ASEAN Economic Community and Charting a Post 2015 Vision at the National Level," also held in Bali, Sept. 28-29.

At the September conference, the ADB and the MPI reported on the results of the research they jointly conducted on skilled labor migration in the region. The participants discussed policies to promote skill mobility and the promotion of Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA) for technical qualifications, as well as obstacles to their smooth implementation. Also, there was extensive debate on the need to involve various stakeholders such as the private sector and on the roles of higher education and occupational training.

Kato also pointed out that the movement of skilled labor is important for Japan as well. He said Japan cannot be self-sufficient in necessary skills and knowledge and ASEAN is an important source of skill for Japan's future. He pointed out that skill mobility will be important to Japan's future given that ASEAN and Japan have strong economic ties.

In the presentations on the issue paper, Papademetriou pointed out the importance of training skilled workers. He said investors both domestic and foreign look to the availability of well-trained and educated people and a market before they make investments, and stated further that when you have a better educated work force that builds the middle class, they are your consumers.

Mendoza talked about human migration patterns in ASEAN and the situation of the mobility of skilled labor, found in joint research by MPI and ADB. Sugiyarto explained the economic benefits brought by skilled labor mobility within the ASEAN region.

After the presentations by speakers from ADB and MPI, the panel discussion was conducted with Hitotsubashi University professor emeritus Yoko Ishikura as a moderator, the three presenters and JICA Chief Economist Koki Hirota to debate the future outlook and issues.

In the discussion, Hirota said the mobility of people within ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will bring reciprocal benefits to each country, so it is very significant. Moreover, he said industrial clusters increase employment opportunities for particular professionals in each country, thus it will become more and more important to coordinate with industry. He also touched upon AUN/SEED-Net, mainly supported by the JICA, which aims to build academic networking among universities in ASEAN and Japan, to raise the educational level, and to strengthen the linkage between industrial sectors and universities.