"Global economy has moved much faster than social and global policies and it's a problem. Globalisation should be for the people as it has strong potential. But the problem comes from weak governance," he told The Daily Star in an interview yesterday.

The ILO-defined core labour standards provide a minimum set of global rules for labour and respect for them should be strengthened, Rodgers said.

"Stronger action is required to ensure respect for core labour standards in export processing zones (EPZs) and more generally, in global production system," he said.

Referring to the report of World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation 2004, Rodgers said the multilateral trading system should substantially reduce unfair barriers to market access for goods in which developing countries have comparative advantage, especially textiles and garments and agricultural products.

"In doing so, the interests of the least developed countries (LDCs) should be safeguarded through special and differential treatment to nurture their export potential," he added.

The ILO director said a successful global growth strategy can ease economic tensions among the countries and make market access for developing countries easier to achieve.

The benefits of globalisation can be extended to more people and better shared between and within countries, he said adding, the current process of globalisation is generating unbalanced outcomes, both between and within countries.

"Wealth is being created, but too many countries and people are not sharing in its benefits. They also have little or no voice in shaping the process."

Rodgers said the commission thinks globalisation has not met their simple and legitimate aspirations for decent jobs and a better future for their children.

"Even in economically successful countries some workers and communities have been adversely affected by globalisation. These global imbalances are morally unacceptable and politically unsustainable."

The ILO director said the multilateral system of designing and implementing international policies is also under-performing. "It lacks policy coherence as a whole and is not sufficiently democratic, transparent and accountable."

"These global imbalances are morally unacceptable and politically unsustainable. What is required is a series of coordinated changes across a broad front, ranging from reform of parts of the global economic system to strengthening governance at the local level."

The world commission worked for two years to prepare the report on 'A fair globalisation: creating opportunities for all'. The commission had representatives from governments, private sectors and civil societies of different countries.

An ILO pilot programme on 'decent work' is going on in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Morocco, Denmark, Ghana, and Panama to develop a method to make policies work together, mentioned Rodgers who will attend a dialogue on 'Globalisation, Decent Work and Poverty Reduction: Policy Alternatives’ in Dhaka today.