SINGAPORE — Using his links to the labour movement and business community, Mr Lim Swee Say intends to bring both sides closer in his new role as Manpower Minister, which begins next Monday (April 4).

He wants to turn major efforts such as SkillsFuture and JobsFuture into tripartite programmes that bring everyone together. Singapore is in a better position than most to succeed in SkillsFuture and JobsFuture — aimed at equipping workers with skills for employability and helping business to transform jobs to enhance competitiveness, respectively — given the “problems of success” it faces.

“Problems of failure are a lot harder to solve ... how to bring employers and workers together if you don’t have enough jobs in the market?” said Mr Lim.

To take stock of tripartism and learn from models in other countries, an international forum on tripartism will be held in October, with International Labour Organisation director-general Guy Ryder to give a keynote address, said Mr Lim in a media interview today (April 27).

The forum will be held in conjunction with the National Trades Union Congress’ national delegates’ conference and a regional meeting of union leaders, he said.