Lima, October 16 (RHC-Andina) -- While speaking at the 18th American Regional Meeting held in Lima, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala urged countries of the region to fight inequality in order to achieve decent working conditions.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Humala suggested that one way to achieve this goal would be via inclusive public policies. The Peruvian leader said that the move involves improving or creating new mechanisms for these purposes, to generate balance in the region’s labour markets, in a more fair and equitable way for workers and firms.

In this regard, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization, Guy Ryder, argued that unemployment is the most visible labour challenge in the Americas, and informality is a very relevant labour issue to the region.

According to the latest ILO data, there are 130 million workers in the informal sector in the region, representing almost 47 per cent of the population.

The regional meeting kicked off on October 13th and concludes today.