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The Presidency, Media Statement, 24 October 2014 The President Convenes the Presidential Business Working Group President Jacob Zuma hosted a session of the Presidential Business Working Group where government and business leaders welcomed progress on overcoming key constraints to inclusive economic growth and job creation. The session took place at the Sefako Makgatho Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria on Friday, 24 October 2014. The meeting followed President Jacob Zuma's undertaking, in his June 2014 State of the Nation Address, that government would work with the private sector to remove obstacles to investment, promote inclusive growth and build a more prosperous society. The President first convened the meeting between Government and Business in February 2013 to promote collaboration towards implementing an inclusive growth strategy to support the National Development Plan. Today's meeting assessed progress and implementation action plans in focus areas including education and skills development, infrastructure, labour regulatory environment, regulatory impact on investment and inclusive growth. Five task teams co-chaired by Government and Business updated the Presidential Working Group on plans developed and action initiated in the past 15 months. Highlights include the following: EDUCATION AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT The Skills and Education Task Team is working to achieve socio-economic development through a partnership that supports better quality education, youth employment, job creation and the development of skills to meet labour market needs. The task team also focused on Outcome 4 and Outcome 6 of the MTSF. The Task Team has identified the following areas of work: - Scaling up Work-Integrated Learning and work based learning in order that learners can complete their studies. - Supporting the SIPS skills needs and pilot models that would demonstrate how working together Government and Business could meet the skills needs of the Infrastructure roll-out. - Work to ensure that entrepreneurship education is scaled up and its quality improved. - Support the work being done by the National Education Collaboration Trust and other Foundations supporting the improved quality of education. INFRASTRUCTURE The Infrastructure Task Team has focused on measures to support the National Infrastructure Plan with specific focus on three priorities: - Establishing complementary measures to support new investment based on the improved provision of logistics, energy and water, - Increasing the levels of local procurement by supporting local production of infrastructure inputs, - Assisting in assessing both the macro and micro economic costs and benefits of infrastructure projects, and recommending appropriate financing strategies and tariffs on that basis. The Task Team highlighted the following: Government has updated the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC) website which will reflect high-level details of all Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) that will be reflected on the website. Business provide feedback on its experience and suggestions for improvement. The PICC will host quarterly meetings with Business on the infrastructure build programme, update Business on developments and create a forum for Business to make inputs on overall infrastructure build programme; linking to localisation efforts in moving toward 75% local content targets set by government. Based on a review of these initiatives, Business offered to prepare proposals on, among others: - "Shared-services" models where municipalities without the necessary capacity can draw on a pool of skills to ensure infrastructure programmes are planned, executed and maintained. - Models of infrastructure provision, operation and maintenance which provides services on a fair and equitable basis. - Business will continue to identify available skills within the private sector and develop a mechanism or model to mobilise such skills in support of Government infrastructure build programme. LABOUR MARKET Given the labour market environment, the task team focused on the following priorities: - To reduce workplace conflict and facilitate constructive labour relations, in particular by engaging with business and labour on skills development. - Improve communication in the workplace - Reducing inequality in the workplace - Enhancing workplace-level cooperation and - Improve labour regulation. Among the key actions for this Task Team is the creation of a social partnership between business and government with employment creation as the core objective and improving private sector job creation opportunities through regulatory efficiency and certainty. A further focus area is the promotion of workplace stability, democracy and productivity to build business confidence and promote transformation in the workplace. An Indaba on labour relations will be convened by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in the near future. REGULATORY IMPACT ON INVESTMENT This task team has focused on improving engagement and trust with economic stakeholders on key areas of interest to identify blockages to production and employment. It has looked at how to further improve the systems and capacity for assessing the impact on growth, investment and employment of proposed and existing regulations. Other matters include to reduce delays and unnecessary red tape around authorisations needed for investments and to work towards improving regulation and to reduce the burden of importing core and critical skills needed for the economy. INCLUSIVE GROWTH To achieve inclusive growth, the Task Team identified the following priorities; - Introduce interventions that support revitalisation of township economies, - Industrialisation through supporting local procurement targets. - Further catalyse the development of a local table computer industry and develop institutional structures to drive implementation of priority projects. The task team believes that the following areas are critical interventions in raising the levels of economic inclusion. - Introduction of a more balanced approach to spatial and economic development. - Promoting industrialisation and therefore employment by identifying value chains that can be developed to increase procurement of locally produced goods. - Modernising education while at the same time developing the digital world in South Africa To address skewed spatial development, a government fund is being launched to support informal sector enterprises, especially in the townships. It was agreed that municipalities that needed support would be identified for which anchor companies could be identified. Synergies between this initiative and the Back to Basics strategy of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is being pursued by the infrastructure task team would be sought. WAY FORWARD The Presidential Business Working Group was encouraged by the progress made since the group first met in August 2013 but acknowledged that there were several issues on which government and business needed to keep engaging. All stakeholders have agreed to keep working together in the interest of maintaining momentum in the implementation of the National Development Plan, and in the interest of securing the livelihoods and sustainability of the country's workforce and business sector. Issued by: The Presidency, Pretoria Enquiries: Mac Maharaj on 079 879 3203 or [email protected] -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. 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