During the Presidency Vote on 24 June 2009, the President stated: "The Economic Development portfolio will have a strong domestic focus and will address, amongst others, matters of macro and micro-economic development planning."The new Department is, therefore, part of a new configuration of government that centres on the four inter-connected areas of policy development, planning, effective implementation and continuous monitoring and evaluation. The Department will be responsible for developing economic policy with a broad, cross-cutting focus so that macro and micro-economic policy reinforce each other and are both aligned to the electoral mandate. The Department will also be responsible for economic development planning and will work collegially with other departments to ensure the coordination around of a programme that places decent work at the centre of government's economic policies in order to secure better employment outcomes.