International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions

International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions

(AICESIS)

SUMMARY OF DECISIONS

ADOPTED BY THE BOARD

Rome, 13-14 FEBRUARY 2014

International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions

(AICESIS)

SUMMARY OF THE DECISIONS ADOPTED BY THE BOARD

Rome, 13-14 February 2014

Presidency: M. Evgeny VELIKHOV (Russia)

The Board meeting brought together 53 persons and 20 Councils. The list of participants is enclosed.

The Board members deeply appreciated the high quality standards of both the welcoming and organization of this meeting and warmly thanked the CNEL for all its efforts.

1/ Agenda: The agenda was adopted without any major change.

2/ Roadmap of the Russian Presidency: The Board was informed by President VELIKHOV on the implementation stage achieved by the roadmap and appreciated the guidance and the first results.

3/ 2013-2015 Main working theme:

Following the presentation by President and the Rapporteur General, Mr. DISKIN, on the "National human capital and new sources of national competitiveness" and a broad discussion, the Board convened that:

- such theme generates a strong interest and is at the core of concerns and role of ESCs-SIs;

- the submitted introductory note can be considered as a good working base;

- this note will be completed in consideration of all the comments made by the Board members and contributions that will be sent by other members; in that context, Board members are invited to submit their written comments to the Rapporteur;

- relevant contents included in the AICESIS previous reports should be integrated;

- a draft report will be presented to the GA that will be held in Bucharest in June 2014 and will decide whether to convene or not an ad hoc working group.

4/ Financial situation and future funding:

After a presentation of the note by the SG, the Board adopted the following decisions:

- the provisional accounts for 2014 were approved;

- the proposal submitted by the Brazilian CDES on future funding was approved and will come into force starting from 2015;

- the GA in Bucharest will be informed; furthermore, on that occasion, a proposal justifying the contributions will be presented in order to meet the concerns raised by Brazil, Curacao and the Dominican Republic; last, the system for classification of members will be clarified and detailed.

5/ AICESIS MDGs Award 2015

The Board has been informed on the progress made by the project. Members are invited to apply. The ceremony will take place in the framework of the International Meeting and the GA that will be held in Moscow (Russia) in 2015.

6/ Exchanges of experiences and best practices

6.1 / Fight against economic crime and corruption.

After a presentation by the rapporteur, Mr TOCCO (CNEL, Italy), it was agreed that:

- activities will be pursued under the leadership of CNEL;

- a questionnaire will be sent to all members to test the involvement of ESCs- SIs on this issue, to assess the acquired results and their motivation to keep working under AICESIS; a proposal specifying the methodology will be drafted, if possible, at the GA in Bucharest.

6.2/ Fight against poverty.

After the presentation by Mr. LI, SG of the Chinese ESC, it was decided that:

- activities will continue under the leadership of the Chinese ESC;

- contacts will be established between the Chinese ESC and the Secretariat in order to define the working procedures to be adopted.

6.3/ Other themes

After a broad debate, the Board adopted the following decisions:

- Social dialogue and industrial relations: agreement on the proposal submitted by the Greek OKE, in compliance with the guidelines of the paper presented during the meeting; a conference on this topic will be held in October 2014 in Athens (Greece).

- the proposal submitted by the ESEC of Morocco to organize a platform / training session on the ESCs-SIs practices as dynamic actors of change, promotion of civil dialogue and participatory democracy for better governance; a workshop will be organized on this issue in the margin of the Board meeting to be held in the first half of December 2014 (see Item 11).

- last, the Board agreed on AICESIS involvement in the partnership / exchange of experiences suggested by the ESC of Curacao on “Economic growth by strengthening human capital and industrial performance"; a conference will take place on this theme at the end of September 2014 in Curacao.

7/ Partnership with the ILO

After the intervention of Mr. GHELLAB, ILO’s representative, who presented ILO current priorities and commented the positive outcome of the joint conference held in Madrid (Spain) in December 2013, the Board decided to organize, in partnership with ILO and the ESDC of Korea, a conference on 13 and 14 November 2014 in Seoul (South Korea) on “The role of ESCs-SIs and social dialogue in the implementation of a social protection floor for all”. The conference will be organized according to the principles set in Madrid.

The Board agreed on the opportunity to start cooperation with the ILO Turin Foundation and instructed the SG to explore such option.

8/ Support the creation of ESCs- SIs

The Board held a first exchange on future opportunities for the establishment of new ESCs-SIs in the world, on the role that AICESIS would hold in this context and on the priority actions to be carried out. This debate will be extended and deepened at the GA in Bucharest.

Furthermore, the Board convened that relevant contacts would be established by the SG in order to seek synergies with existing networks run by AICESIS members: TRESMED, EUROSOCIAL, Caribbean, Central and South America network.

9/ Reports from the Civic Chamber of Russia

9.1/ Report on the state of civil society in the world

9.2/ Report on the promotion of sustainable development

After the presentations by their respective Rapporteurs (Mr. DISKIN and Mr.ZAKHAROV), the Board welcomed the preliminary work on both themes. Nevertheless, the Board warned about the high ambition of the proposed issues and therefore, called for caution regarding the opening of such working areas. The Board asked for a deepening of such projects before its next meeting and invited interested members to join this discussion.

10/ Communication

10.1/ New AICESIS website

The Board positively welcomed the new approach presented by the CC of Russia and the potential offered. This new version will be online in mid-March 2014.

10.2/ World Database of ESCs-SIs

The SG outlined the draft constitution of the global database on ESCs-SIs, developed in partnership with the ILO.

11/ Other items

11.1/ Memorandum of understanding AICESIS - UCESA

Mr. VELIKOV, President of AICESIS, and Mrs. TALL, President of UCESA, signed a Memorandum of Understanding aiming at organizing and strengthening cooperation between the two institutions.

11.2 / Symposium on the Future of AICESIS

The Board approved the proposal formulated by Mr. BABES, President of the Algerian CNES, to organize a high level symposium in Algiers in the first quarter of 2015. The symposium - whose principle had already been decided - will aim at launching an open reflection on the future of the Association. Furthermore, given the delicate and controversial nature of such a topic, the Board agreed that this event will be prepared in the most unifying spirit possible; a draft program will be submitted at the next Board meeting in Bucharest

11.3/ Board meeting in December 2014

The Board warmly welcomed the proposal submitted by the ESEC of Morocco to host its meeting in the first half of December 2014; furthermore (see point 6.3), a workshop aiming at exchanging ESCs-SIs practices as dynamic actors of change, promotion of civil dialogue and participatory democracy in favor of better governance. This workshop will be held in conjunction with this meeting.

11.4 / Working Groups ILO, ECOSOC, CSW

Updates were provided on work progress concerning the AICESIS contributions to, respectively:

- the ILO International Labor Conference (ILC, Geneva, June 2014 - Leader: ESC of Mauritius);

- the UN ECOSOC Assembly (New York, July 2014 – Leader: ESEC of Morocco);

- and the meeting of the UN Commission of Women (CSW, New York, March 2014 – Leader: CNEL of Italy).

11.5 / AICESIS 2014 Summer School

President VELIKHOV presented the state of preparation for the third edition of the AICESIS Summer School for Youth (Russia, Kabardino-Balkaria, September 2014). Given the great success of the previous editions, the Board pushed the members to apply.

11.6 / Partnership with FAO

The approach adopted by the SG, following the mandate received by the General Assembly of Algiers, has so far not yielded expected results. The Board requested an intensification of efforts in connection with the CNEL of Italy.

11.7/ AICESIS General Assembly

The ESC of Romania described the current preparatory stage of the AICESIS GA that will be held in Bucharest on 26 and 27 June 2014.

Provisional agenda of AICESIS meetings

- 26-27 June (Bucharest, Romania): AICESIS GA

- 15-21 September (Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia): International Summer School

- End of September(Curacao): Conference on “Economic Growth through strengthening of Human Capital and Industrial Performance”

- Mid-October (Athens, Greece): Conference on social dialogue and industrial relations

- 13-14 November (Seoul, Korea): Conference on “The role of ESCs-SIs and social dialogue in the implementation of social protection floor for all”

- First half of December (Morocco): AICESIS Board and workshop on “ESCs-SIs’ practices as drivers of change and promoters of civil dialogue and participative democracy in favor of a better governance”

- First quarter of 2015 (Algiers, Algeria): high level symposium on the future of AICESIS.

M. Evgeny VELIKHOV M. Patrick VENTURINI

The President The Secretary General

______

International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions

(AICESIS)

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

PAYS / COUNTRY

Algérie

Bénin

Brésil / Brazil

Cameroun

Corée

1