S. African Presidency hails landmark Framework Agreement resulting from Jobs Summit

新华社| 2018-10-06 05:55:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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CAPE TOWN, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The South African Presidency on Friday hailed a landmark Framework Agreement resulting from the two-day Job Summit with the aim of creating an estimated 275,000 jobs annually.

The Framework Agreement is the culmination of a collaborative effort that explored solutions for creating and retaining jobs, especially for the youth, the Presidency said after the summit ended in Midrand, Gauteng Province on Friday.

"Rigorous negotiations and alignment of efforts have led to real commitments by all sectors," presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko said.

The Framework Agreement commits all social partners to undertake concrete steps to avoid retrenchment and support companies in distress. This will be coupled with a Rapid Response Team of experts to assist struggling businesses.

"In addition, we have agreed that the Training Layoff Scheme will be immediately revived and improved to mitigate job losses," said Diko.

The summit, under the auspices of the National Economic Development and Labor Council (NEDLAC), brought together all NEDLAC constituencies, the government, labor, business and communities - to tackle a 27.2-percent unemployment rate.

The NEDLAC constituencies have signed the historic Framework Agreement, which obliges all the social partners to make firm commitments to strengthen the "Buy South African" campaign that motivates the government, the private sector and individuals to buy South African-made products so as to increase domestic demand and, through that, stimulate job creation.

The agreement envisages, among others, the investment of 100 billion rand (about 6.8 billion U.S. dollars) over five years in black enterprises and firms in the industrial sector, sets up a mechanism to address regulatory constraints to investment, and makes commitments at the sectoral and company level to support local procurement of goods and services to boost employment and job retention.

"Constituencies will now implement the agreed actions in their respective sectors and report back to the President on an on-going basis," Diko said.

All actions, he added, will be tracked through a monitoring framework and quarterly reports on progress will be provided to the President to ensure that they have real impact.

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