Speaking as Guest-of-Honour at the NTUC National Delegates' Conference 2011, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong acknowledged the contributions of union leaders at the conference. He shared with delegates that tripartism will become even more crucial than before as we face choppier and less predictable conditions.
Acknowledging that workers will have to adapt more frequently, the tripartite partners have to be strong government, unions and employers. Crucial to Singapore's long term success, there needs to be a stable political environment, open discussions, and sound and consistent policies.
Raise productivity, strengthen innovation
PM Lee emphasised that Singapore must strengthen its capabilities with the goal of raising productivity and strengthening innovation.
He highlighted three ways to do so:
- Attract higher value-added activities, that is good investments
- Restructure the economy for the future
- Upgrade the workforce for a highly-skilled, productive and innovative economy
"Domestically, we also have to work to strengthen our own capabilities, and the fundamental goal we have is to raise our productivity, strengthen our innovation because this is the way for us to become more competitive, this is the way to become less reliant on foreign workers, this is the way Singaporeans can earn higher salaries, justify higher salaries," he said.
