The head of the International Labour Organization (ILO) appreciated Turkey's active role in the G20.
"I think in particular [in the] G20, Turkey has been particularly active and [a] leading player," Guy Ryder told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday after a meeting in the capital Ankara.
Emphasizing the strong ties between Turkey and the ILO, he said the global organization wants to strengthen ties with partners in Turkey, including those in the government, trade unions and employers. He added that the ILO runs a $75-million technical cooperation program in Turkey, which is aimed at alleviating the hardships of Syrian refugees as well as increasing women employment and reducing child labor in the country. Appreciating the Turkish efforts on the refugee problem, Ryder said: "This is the way we can best contribute to a balanced approach to help refugees but also to provide solidarity not only within but with Turkish enterprises and governments as well."
The civil war in neighboring Syria has saddled Turkey with the task of addressing challenges stemming from the ongoing crisis. Pursuing an open door policy, Turkey has received a constant flow of displaced Syrians fleeing the conflict, with the numbers of refugees expanding from mere thousands to more than 3.5 million, by far the most among refugee-hosting countries.
Nearly 1.6 million of the Syrian refugee population are children in Turkey and nearly 300,000 Syrians were born in Turkey since 2011. With the aim of meeting the needs of refugees, the country has spent more than $32 billion from its own national resources. Aside from meeting the basic needs of refugees, Ankara has been focusing on providing education to refugee children to prevent these children from becoming a "lost generation" and equip them to rebuild their own countries in the future. As there is no end in sight for the war, pushing refugees to ponder a longer stay than they planned, Turkey has been exerting efforts for the socio-economic integration of refugees within the country.
"We hope for President Erdoğan's visit to the International Labor Conference in Geneva on June 10," he added.
