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The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its 1997 direct request, which read as follows:

1. The Committee notes that section 15 of the Law on Employment of the Population provides for the compilation of statistics on the labour market and employment problems. Please describe the measures taken or envisaged in application of this provision in order to collect and analyse data on the characteristics and trends in job offers and demands which are necessary to implement an active employment policy. Please continue to provide information on the activities of employment placement services.

2. The Committee notes that, among the principles which should guide the Government’s action, the Law on Employment of the Population provides that the employment policy must be coordinated with other economic and social policies. Please indicate how, in application of this provision, the measures to be adopted with a view to promoting full, productive and freely chosen employment are determined and reviewed regularly "in the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy", in accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. In particular, please indicate the manner in which the measures taken with the support of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other development banks for carrying out the structural reforms necessary for the transition to a market economy contribute to the promotion of employment.

3. The Committee notes with interest that particular attention is paid by the employment services to the categories of workers such as women, young persons, older workers and handicapped persons who are most affected by the transition process towards a market economy. Please continue to supply information on the specific training and placement measures for persons who have particular difficulty in finding and retaining employment. Please also describe the training and retraining measures for workers affected by structural reforms. Please supply any assessment of the contribution of public works programmes to lasting integration of their beneficiaries into employment. Please supply particulars on the nature and scope of measures for promoting small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as on the development of industry in rural areas in order to provide jobs for young persons.

4. Article 3. The Committee notes that the Government indicates that to date there has been no real cooperation between trade unions, employers and government bodies. It notes, however, that the Government refers to the agreement concluded each year between the Government and the Council of the Trade Union Federation on economic and social issues. The Committee recalls, furthermore, that whereas section 21 of the Law on the Employment of the Population gives trade unions the right to participate in formulating employment policy and legislation in this sphere, a similar right is not explicitly recognized for employers’ organizations. In this connection, the Committee recalls that under this provision of the Convention the representatives of employers and workers must be consulted on an equal footing concerning employment policies "with a view to taking fully into account their experience and views and securing their full cooperation in formulating and enlisting support for such policies". In addition, in view of the proportion of the active population, it would seem appropriate to include workers in the rural sector and the informal sector also in these consultations. The Committee would be grateful if the Government develop these relationships and would describe in its next report the manner in which the consultation of all the "persons affected" is assured in practice, as required by this important provision of the Convention.