NEDLAC MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING

Issued by Nedlac, Johannesburg

11 April 2003

Growth and Development Summit

Nedlac's Management Committee today received reports from the constituencies on their preparations for the Growth and Development Summit. The Committee agreed that the Summit be postponed to 7 June in order to give the four constituencies of business, labour, government and community more time to exchange views on their position papers and identify areas of agreement.

Government tabled its position paper on the Summit, and Labour tabled an initial paper on employment creation and investment. Business indicated that it would table its position paper shortly and the Community constituency indicated that its paper would be ready within a week. The constituencies will now study each other's position papers, and begin a series of meetings to negotiate areas of focused agreements. All the constituencies emphasised their willingness to commit time and energy to this process, in order to come up with some practical measures with timeframes attached. Employment creation, particularly in relation to youth, was already emerging as a major focus of attention.

Nedlac's Executive Director, Phillip Dexter to resign

Phillip Dexter, who has been Nedlac's executive director since 1 October 1999, will resign from Nedlac as from 1 July this year. Speaking on behalf of all the constituencies, Overall Convenor for Labour, Ebrahim Patel, expressed their appreciation for everything that Phillip Dexter had done for Nedlac during his tenure as Executive Director, including bringing strategic focus to the institution. Significant agreements that were reached during this time included the Nedlac Summit agreement of 2000, the Labour Law Amendments, various sector summit agreements, including the Financial Sector Summit, as well as negotiations on several other issues.

Phillip Dexter succeeded Nedlac's first Executive Director, Jayendra Naidoo, who served at Nedlac between 1995 and 1998.

Draft National Agreement on the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS

Government reported to the Management Committee that the task team that had been working within government in relation to the draft National Agreement on HIV/AIDS had completed its work. It was agreed that a meeting of the Nedlac task team should be convened as soon as possible in order to take the process forward.

Contact Jennifer Wilson on 011 328 4211or 083 652 8524