Jose Gatchalian - Former Dean and Professor School of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of the Philippines International Consultant on Workplace Cooperation, Philippines

First of all, our congratulations to the organizers of this important international meeting, and heartfelt gratitude and thanks to our good friend, Mr. Hesam Arif Kashfi, for enabling us to attend this event. As a first time visitor to Iran, we are very much impressed by your country and people. Persia and the Persians, have always fascinated us, from the many books and movies that have recorded and described your magnificent culture and civilization, of the emperor Darius the Great, of magic carpets and Persian rugs, historic castles and monuments. Indeed, we deeply appreciate this rare opportunity to see your beautiful land and meet your hospitable people. As you can see, we have traveled from faraway - our country the Philippines is situated in South East Asia. What has drawn us to come here, aside from the enticing tourist opportunities, is a common aspiration and ideal that Filipinos and Iranians share – that of human development and the improvement of their quality of life. This is the underlying motivation of our lifelong advocacy, centered on the twin goals of quality of work and work relationships - everywhere. Because we believe that quality is a key to industrial peace, productivity and progress, we submit to you the proposition that these are universal goals that are best started and achieved at the workplace. This is true - whether in Iran or in the Philippines, or in any other country where human beings work together to produce goods and services essential for the economic growth and wellbeing of their fellowmen.