At its sitting held on 14 March 2006, the Committee on Labour, Ex-Servicemen’s and Social Issues unanimously endorsed its Plan and Programme of Activities for 2006.

The Committee is to hold regular monthly sittings to assess and monitor the implementation of laws regulating fields from its purview by discussing reports provided by all sectors of the appropriate Ministry and inviting Ministry officials to provide direct information and explanations as required. The Plan and Programme of Activities underlines the Committee’s commitment to continued co-operation with the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro through the Assistance to Pilot Committees of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Project, which aims at improving Committee work. The Committee is to establish official ties with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in Serbia and Montenegro; UNDP is to initiate co-operation by presenting the Co-Operation Programme at a future Committee sitting. The Plan and Programme concludes by stating that the Committee’s working group for petitions is to continue discussing petitions from members of the public and institutions.

The 2005 Report on Activities of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy was presented by the Minister, Slobodan Lalovic, and the State Secretary, Ljiljana Milosavljevic. The Report outlines laws passed by the National Assembly, legislation in Assembly procedure and at the drafting stage, as well as planned by-laws. Ministry officials spoke of the implementation of laws governing labour relations, pension and disability insurance, employment, and the labour inspectorate, as well as those regulating financial affairs, social welfare, protection of families and children, and protection of disabled persons.

Committee members agreed that the Ministry’s 2005 Report was concise and clear, and gave it their unanimous endorsement.