Press Release No. 126-03
27 March 2003
OPLE
CONGRATULATES ILO DIRECTOR GENERAL
Juan Somavia, the Chilean diplomat who serves as Director General of the
International Labor Organization, was congratulated on his re-election by
Foreign Secretary Blas F. Ople.
Ople, who was president of the 60th International Labor Conference in Geneva
in 1975, wrote, “As your colleague who profoundly appreciates ILO’s role
in the empowerment of labor, particularly in less-developed nations, I congratulate
you most sincerely.”
Secretary Ople was Philippine Secretary of Labor for close to twenty years,
from 1967 to 1971 and, again, from 1972 to early 1986.
Before his election as ILO Director General in 1997, Somavia was Chile’s
Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. He was President
of the U.N. Economic and Social Council and Chairman of the U.N. Summit on
Social Development held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1995.
In appreciation of Somavia’s distinguished service in social development,
Ople wrote: “You eminently deserve this renewed mandate. It is a clear recognition
of your outstanding leadership. It is also an eloquent testimony to the international
community’s admiration of your efforts, over the years, for social development
of peoples.”
End