KUALA LUMPUR, 9 August 2017: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) today signs a partnership agreement with the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (ITC-ILO), which will pave way for the joint development and implementation of future training activities in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries.

Officiating the event, EPF Chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said, “We are privileged and honoured for the ITC-ILO to have chosen EPF and Malaysia as the partner in facilitating learning and knowledge in social security and retirement issues for ASEAN. Under this strategic partnership, the EPF will be providing world-class learning infrastructure via the EPF Learning Campus (ELC) as well as offer an in-depth understanding of the region.

“This partnership, which will allow us to tap into the reservoir of global expertise, is only the first of many more initiatives to come in furthering EPF’s agenda in addressing the needs of an aging society as well as the social security challenges presented by the gig economy. We intend to leverage on more of such collaborations in the future while putting Malaysia on the map as the regional centre of excellence for social protection.”

Present at the signing ceremony at the ELC was Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, EPF Chief Executive Officer; Tunku Alizakri Raja Muhammad Alias, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Strategy); Charles Crevier, Senior Programme Officer,  Social Protection, Governance and Tripartism, ITC-ILO; and Nuno Meira Simoes da Cunha, Senior Technical Specialist on Social Protection, ILO Bangkok.

The ITC is the training arm of the ILO, a United Nations agency entrusted with promoting social justice, including internationally recognised human rights and labour standards. Among the programmes that will be offered in ELC are labour migration; social dialogue, tripartism and labour law; and social protection. The target audience who would benefit from future programmes range from government ministries, non-governmental organisations, social welfare agencies, research institutions and the academia.

The EPF first collaborated with the ITC-ILO in August 2016, when both jointly organised the Executive Course on Designing and Extending the Social Protection System in Malaysia. The course was attended by 60 delegates from Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.

Charles Crevier, Senior Programme Officer of Social Protection, Governance and Tripartism, ITC- ILO said, “Malaysia has been making great strides in advancing the agenda of social protection, while the EPF has been consistent in advocating for a more comprehensive social security system which provide coverage and protection for all. For this we are pleased to bring our partnership with the EPF one step further, through the cooperation on the design and implementation of tailor- made training activities in the field of social protection policy.”

Established in 1964 in Turin, Italy as an advanced vocational training institute, the ITC-ILO has since matured into providing high-level in-service training, and runs more than 450 programmes and projects for a total of around 12,500 people from over 190 countries each year.

For upcoming training programmes for the Southeast Asian region to be held at the ELC, members of the public may refer to the ITC-ILO website at: http://www.itcilo.org/en/training- offer/standard-courses.