Malaysia to Host First Global Skills Forum Outside Geneva under ASEAN Year of Skills

10 June 2025

GENEVA : Malaysia has been accorded the honour of hosting the Global Skills Forum (GSF) 2025, marking the first time this prestigious event will be held outside Geneva.

The official announcement was made on 9 June by Malaysia’s Minister of Human Resources, Steven Sim Chee Keong, during a high-level event co-organised with the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva. The main event is scheduled to take place in Kuala Lumpur on 22 and 23 October 2025.

Malaysia’s selection as host country reflects not only its role as Chair of ASEAN 2025, but also its growing leadership in workforce transformation, labour market reform and human capital development. The GSF 2025 will serve as a flagship initiative under the ASEAN Year of Skills (AYOS), led by the Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp), an agency under Malaysia’s Ministry of Human Resources.

Having been first convened in Geneva in 2024, the second edition of the Global Skills Forum in Malaysia signals increasing international confidence in the country’s commitment to advancing skills development and its readiness to shape the future of work.

Speaking on Malaysia’s global commitment to accessible skills development, Minister Steven Sim stated that GSF 2025 is not solely about preparing for future skills, but also about ensuring fairness. He emphasised that whether one is a coder in Hanoi, a delivery rider in Jakarta, or a factory worker in Kuala Lumpur, every individual’s work deserves respect, safety and investment in skills.

To mark this important milestone, the Minister announced the global expansion of e-LATiH, Malaysia’s national online learning platform, which will now offer free, borderless access to reskilling and upskilling content to learners worldwide. Furthermore, as announced during the ASEAN Human Capital Development Investment Symposium on 27 May, Malaysia will open its National Training Week (NTW), taking place from 14 to 21 June 2025, to all ASEAN citizens for the first time. The programme will feature more than 65,000 free courses in both online and in-person formats, covering priority areas such as artificial intelligence, digitalisation, green technology and leadership. Malaysia warmly invites ASEAN citizens to participate in this regional learning initiative.

The 2025 forum is expected to gather more than 200 delegates from 16 countries, including ministers, technical experts, industry leaders, trade union representatives, and officials from global organisations. Key objectives will include strengthening regional cooperation on skills mobility and labour certification, accelerating investment in green and digital skills, and enhancing public-private partnerships in workforce development through the establishment of Sector Skills Bodies and innovation-driven ecosystems. The event will also see the launch of Malaysia’s National Human Resources Policy 2024–2030, which is intended to serve as a collaborative model for ASEAN-wide human capital advancement.

Set against this forward-looking agenda, GSF 2025 will provide a vital platform to address some of the most pressing workforce challenges in the region. Among these will be the integration and protection of gig economy workers, with Malaysia taking the lead through its proposed Gig Workers Bill, expected to be tabled in Parliament during the second half of 2025. The forum will also address the need to expand social protection for all workers, including informal, migrant and self-employed individuals, by exploring inclusive models for income security and universal coverage.

In addition, discussions will examine how workplace safety standards are evolving in response to digitalisation, remote work and labour market fragmentation, building on Malaysia’s ratification of ILO Convention C155. For the first time, the Global Skills Forum will place a particular emphasis on private sector leadership, highlighting the role of employers, industry actors and training providers in shaping responsive, agile and future-ready skills systems.

GSF 2025 is poised to be a landmark moment in regional and global efforts to reshape the workforce for a rapidly changing world.