At the meetings I and relevant Ministers held with the trade union, employer and farm organisations on 8 and 10 October 1990, it was agreed that detailed negotiations should be undertaken on the scope and content of a possible new programme for economic and social progress. It was also agreed that these negotiations would be conducted between representatives of the organisations concerned and senior Government officials with a view to the preparation of a series of detailed proposals for decision, in due course, by the Government and the organisations concerned. This was the procedure successfully followed in the preparation of the Programme for National Recovery.
To date, 33 such negotiating meetings have been held and the discussions at these meetings have been proceeding in a constructive and satisfactory manner. When the work of these meetings has reached a more advanced stage there will be further meetings between myself and the relevant Ministers and the social partners with the purpose, if possible, of concluding agreement on a new programme for economic and social progress for the decade.
I am sure that all Deputies will welcome a satisfactory outcome to these negotiations as a consensus approach to economic and social progress, as the success of the Programme for National Recovery proved, is undoubtedly the best approach in a small open economy such as ours.