NEC Presents First Report to Government
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NEC Presents First Report to Government |
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Contact: John Emmanuel
Tuesday, February 03, 2004 - Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Affairs Honourable Dr. Kenny Anthony on Monday, January 2nd,2004 received the very first report of the National Economic Council (NEC). The report came out of several months of deliberations and provides a strategic plan for the country, along with a vision for the way forward in partnership with government, social partners and the private sector. In presenting the report, Chairman of the NEC Richard Peterkin said, “we have distilled the results of our deliberations to focus on three primary development objectives as being most relevant for obtaining the national vision. Those are employment maximization, poverty reduction and crime abatement and we are certainly pleased to see some of the recent changes that will hope will deal with the last of those three.” He said it was the view of the Council that in the present dynamic economic environment, nothing less than an integrated planning approach will produced the desired results. In accepting the report, Prime Minister Anthony gave the assurance that the many recommendations highlighted in the report would be implemented over time. He said, “I think, Mr. Chairman you raised a key question of implementation and I detected a little note of anxiety as to whether this report was going to be one of those reports that will simple be placed on a shelve to gather dust or whether government was just engaging in purely symbolic behaviour. I trust that in time you will be discouraged from this view as you will see complete evidence of a very different approach, as this government has a history of implementing the recommendations of the bodies that it has set up to assist in decision making,” He however, decried the apparent lack of participation from the labour sector in the report saying the responsibly of looking after the affairs of the country and management of the economy was not the sole pursue of government and the private sector, and that the labour sector formed a key component of that process. He said, “the evidence throughout the world is that where countries have changed their economic orientation and adjusted to new realities, it has been critical for all parties to be engaged and to be involved in shaping the new policy. Therefore, I sincerely hope that we can in the weeks and months ahead see more involvement and participation from our friends in the labour sector.”
Dr. Anthony went on to defend his government’s policy of across the board consultation, saying other administrations had attempted similar exercises in the past with no consultation and marginal involvement from other social partners resulting in failure. “We believe that consultation is vital to the process of governance. Indeed even before coming to this handing over ceremony I couldn’t help but remember a little episode in one of the commentaries on the television that suggested that this government seems to live by consultation and more consultation. We believe that consultation is vital to democracy and we believe that the process of governance ought to be shared.”
The government will have the opportunity to assess and comment on the first draft of the report, after which members of the public will get their turn. The report will be posted on the World Wide Web for public comment and perusal in coming weeks. The NEC was commissioned in September 2002 and has a mandate to identify key economic challenges facing the country in the medium and long term. The council consist of a core of ten persons appointed by Cabinet and a technical committee of eleven persons selected by the NEC. |
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