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1. The Committee notes the information supplied in response to the previous direct request, as well as the Government's report received by the Office in September 1998. The Committee also notes that the Government has subsequently held a National Conference on Employment and Combating Unemployment in which both social partners and non-governmental organizations participated, and out of which has come a National Strategic Plan. Please provide a copy of the National Strategic Plan and further information on action taken as a follow-up to the Conference, with detailed information on how policies pertaining to, inter alia, macroeconomic issues and sectoral development take into account the objectives of full, productive and freely chosen employment and equality of access to employment, as requested in the report form under Article 1 of the Convention.

2. The Government states that the unemployment rate was 14.4 per cent for 1997, down slightly from 15 per cent in 1995. The participation rate of women is 16.3 per cent. It also provides information on the various changes to the vocational education and training programs, as well as statistics on the number of participants. Please supply further details on the outcome of these changes, as well as an indication of how many of the participants obtain lasting employment, and how the free choice of employment for women is assured.

3. In reply to previous comments, the Government explains that representatives of various sectors participate in all aspects of economic and social policy development affecting employment. Please describe measures taken to ensure that employment policies and programmes are formulated within a coordinated economic and social policy and in consultation with employers' and workers' representatives, as well as representatives of other sectors of the economically active population, such as rural and informal sector workers, as specified in Article 3, in conjunction with Article 2.

4. Please indicate the effect of any technical cooperation relating to employment received from the ILO, as requested in Part V of the report form.