tailieunhanh - Preparing the Western Cape for the Knowledge Economy of the 21st Century

In my parallel guise as Western Cape Minister of Finance I presented my Budget for the financial year 2001/2002 in the Provincial Legislature in March this year, and without question the key characterising feature of those proposals was a marked shift in emphasis (in relative terms) away from welfare spending and towards spending to facilitate and enhance prospects for employment creation. | Preparing the Western Cape for the Knowledge Economy of the 21st Century PREPARING THE WESTERN CAPE FOR THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY OF THE 21st CENTURY MAY 2001 Department of Economic Affairs Agriculture and Tourism Branch Business Promotion and Tourism 9 Dorp Street PO Box 979 Cape Town 8000 Tel. 021-483-4141 e-mail hwesso@ White Paper i Department of Economic Affairs Agriculture Tourism Preparing the Western Cape for the Knowledge Economy of the 21st Century FOREWORD In my parallel guise as Western Cape Minister of Finance I presented my Budget for the financial year 2001 2002 in the Provincial Legislature in March this year and without question the key characterising feature of those proposals was a marked shift in emphasis in relative terms away from welfare spending and towards spending to facilitate and enhance prospects for employment creation. I said then and I maintain now that following two years of austerity measures and spending on bolstering our education system and improving our healthcare facilities the time is now right for us to focus our attention on sustained economic development and therefore ultimately on job creation. Consequently the beam of the economic spotlight so to speak falls squarely on the Department of Economic Affairs Agriculture and Tourism. Far from squinting and as our eyes become accustomed hurriedly planning the way ahead this Department is fully prepared for the important role it can now play. In preparing the Western Cape for the knowledge economy of the 21st century we are turning our efforts towards on the one hand reforming the way in which Government operates and interacts with its constituents and on the other hand facilitating an environment conducive to economic growth and job creation. Government cannot conjure up jobs but it can help especially in collaboration with the private sector to create the environment within which job creation and skills development can flourish. LEON MARKOVITZ Provincial Minister