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1. Coordination of employment policy with poverty reduction. The Committee notes that, according to the brief information received in March 2004, the Technical and Vocational Training Office is responsible for providing short training courses in all branches of activity. The AMIE project and its partners have also contributed to the promotion of employment: local partners participate in the AMIE project, including the Mohéli Traders’ Solidarity Fund, the Business Development Centre, the Community Development Assistance Fund and the network of mutual savings and credit funds. The project is reported to have led to the creation of 2,800 jobs since 2001. The Government also indicates that the tax exemptions for investors made available by the Inter-ministerial Investment Commission have led to the creation of 2,083 jobs since 2000. The Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position to provide detailed information in its next report on the measures taken to ensure that employment, as a key element of poverty reduction, is at the heart of macroeconomic and social policies. It would also be important to be able to examine information on the results achieved by the measures taken to improve the supply of technical and vocational training and the promotion of an enterprise culture (Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention and the Job Creation in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Recommendation, 1998 (No. 189)).

2. The Committee emphasizes once again the importance of establishing a system for the compilation of labour market data so that policies can be based on an accurate appraisal of labour market conditions. It requests the Government to provide information on any progress achieved in this field, and also in its next report to provide information on the employment policy measures adopted as a result of the establishment of new labour market information systems.

3. Participation of the social partners in the formulation and application of policies. The Committee recalls that Article 3 of the Convention requires consultations with the representatives of all persons affected, and particularly representatives of employers and workers, in the formulation and implementation of employment policies. It is the joint responsibility of the government and the representative organizations of employers and workers to ensure that representatives of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups of the active population are associated as closely as possible with the formulation and implementation of the measures of which they should be the prime beneficiaries (see paragraph 493 of the General Survey of 2004 on promoting employment). The Committee trusts that the Government will provide detailed information on this subject in its next report.