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The Committee notes 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 has learnt of the approval of a Second Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2001-05) that outlines the main directions of the Government’s socio-economic policy including the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) adopted by the Government within the framework of the agreements concluded with the World Bank and the IMF. The plan comprises the Population Work Programme, which seeks to ensure a better link between population and economic growth on the path to sustainable development through, inter alia, the reduction of demographic growth, the development of human resources and the expansion of job opportunities. The Committee would be grateful if the Government could provide in its next report information on the different policies and programmes being implemented including how they take into account the objectives of full, productive and freely chosen employment and equality of access to employment.

2. The Government states that it is still in the process of developing a database on labour market statistics. Further to its previous requests, the Committee again asks the Government to supply in its next report available statistics on trends in the labour market, including data concerning the size and distribution of the labour force and the nature and extent of unemployment and underemployment. Please also provide information on how employment policies and programmes are kept under review within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy.

3. Article 3. The Government indicates that since 2000 the Labour Council has not held any meetings and that cooperation between trade unions, employers and government bodies has been minimal. The Committee notes that under this important provision of the Convention the representatives of employers and workers must be consulted 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". Moreover, in view of the proportion of the active population, it would seem appropriate to also include workers in the rural sector and the informal economy in these consultations. The Committee asks the Government to develop these relationships as requested by the Convention and to describe in its next report the manner in which the consultation of all the "persons affected" is assured in practice on employment policy issues.