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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 2002 direct request, which read as follows:

1. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government’s report in which it recognizes the need to establish conditions for the creation of good quality jobs and productive activities which guarantee the population improved income and social protection. The Government also refers to an occupational training programme carried out by the Ministry of Justice and Labour (with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank) and the restructuring of the National Vocational Promotion Service, with the establishment of a National System of Vocational Training. The Committee hopes that in its next report the Government will provide information on the results achieved in terms of the creation of productive employment by the above programmes, as well as the results of the training programme for micro-entrepreneurs and the employment programme for young persons seeking their first job.

2. The Committee recalls that the compilation and analysis of statistical information has to serve as a basis for the adoption of employment policy measures. The Committee once again requests information on the situation, level and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment throughout the country and the extent to which they affect the most vulnerable categories of workers (such as women, young persons and rural workers), who often encounter the greatest difficulties in finding lasting employment.

3. Article 3. The Committee notes with interest that, within the context of the Tripartite Council for Social Dialogue, committees have been set up (on state reform, employment and wages, investment and financial policy, social policy) in areas directly related to the application of the Convention. The Committee hopes that in its next report the Government will supply information on the manner in which the work of the Tripartite Council for Social Dialogue has contributed to the declaration and perusal of an active policy designed to promote full and productive employment, as required by the Convention.

4. Part V of the report form. The Committee notes that the ILO is participating in a support programme for the development of a national strategy to reduce poverty in the social and labour field. According to the information available for 1999, some 33.7 per cent of the population live in poverty and 15.5 per cent are in conditions of extreme poverty. The Committee hopes that the Government will also include information in its next report on the action taken as a result of the assistance received from the Office with a view to reducing poverty and creating productive employment.