President Jacob Zuma’s meeting with big business to discuss jobs and job creation got underway at the Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria on Friday morning.
The Presidential Business Summit on Job Creation will focus on how government and business can partner to address the unemployment challenge in the country.
Government said 2011 would be a year of job creation through “meaningful economic transformation”.
Several announcements had already been made regarding efforts to create jobs, including a R9-billion jobs fund. The money would be spent over a three-year period to finance new job-creation initiatives.
The private sector would also get R20-billion in tax breaks to stimulate job growth in sectors such as manufacturing.
In a statement released late on Thursday, Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), which would form part of the meeting, said some key issues that business would raise at the summit included skills development, infrastructural development and promoting entrepreneurship. — I-Net Bridge