Meeting of Eritrean Ministerial Cabinet underway
Asmara, 29 November 2012 – The meeting of the Eritrean Cabinet of Ministers
got underway today at the State House.
http://www.shabait.com/images/stories/shabimages/nov-29-cabinet-meeting-2.jp
gIn opening remarks, President Isaias Afwerki pointed out that the Eritrean
economy is making headway despite the consequences of war and a situation of
neither peace nor war, in addition to withstanding external conspiracies and
pressure.
The main agenda of the meeting focuses on assessment of the action programs
for the year ending and the charting of those for 2013. In this connection,
the Ministerial Cabinet conducted discussion on the working paper the
President presented pertaining to integrated development for the coming
year.
The working paper outlines that the national policies, strategies, programs,
projects and plans aim at promoting economic growth, and that all sectorial
and regional action programs should be assessed vis-à-vis their contribution
to the Gross National Income (GNI) and the impact on the improvement of the
living standard.
President Isaias went on to elaborate that economic growth could not be
measured on equal variables in both developed and underdeveloped economies,
as well as under normal and
abnormal
http://www.shabait.com/images/stories/shabimages/nov-29-cabinet-meet
ing.jpg circumstances. In this regard, he stressed that the so-called
statistical statements concocted with a view to serving public relations
gimmick should be set aside, and that genuine and sustainable development in
a given country should be gauged in terms of the improvement in the living
standard of nationals.
The President further explained that the main indicators of economic growth
depend on the output of goods and services vis-à-vis the purchasing power to
this end, as well as Gross National Product (GNP), improvement in people’s
standard of living and enhancement of social services, among others. In this
connection, he underlined the need for reports compiled to highlight factual
figures supplemented with an objective assessment. Moreover, President
Isaias indicated that the programs outlined for 2013 would differ from the
previous ones both in terms of approach and content.
He also elucidated that the main indicators of real growth include that of
capital accumulation, enhancement of human resource potentials, availability
of natural resources, upgrading of production capacity and management,
technological competence, besides market demand at national, regional and
international level. Furthermore, the President highlighted the yardsticks
to be applied in the assessment of action programs.
In this connection, he stated that all the reports regarding work
accomplishments on the part of all government agencies need to be presented
from the standpoint of the aforementioned criteria. By the same token, the
prospective outcome of future action programs needs to apply the same
criteria, he elaborated.
Following the President’s briefings, the Ministerial Cabinet conducted
extensive discussion in the afternoon hours as regards the organization and
work coordination among government agencies and the implementation of
development programs, besides domestic and regional developments and the
like.
The Ministerial Cabinet meeting is scheduled to continue tomorrow.
Received on Thu Nov 29 2012 - 21:47:39 EST
