"...the Committee must note with deep regret the total lack of progress in providing a legislative framework in which free and independent workers' organizations can be established. The Committee takes due note of the renewed references in the Government's latest report to workers' welfare associations as the forerunners of trade unions safeguarding and promoting the interests of workers as best as they can at present, as well as of the regret expressed by the Government that the Committee holds a different opinion in respect of the role that may be played by the welfare associations. The Committee must reiterate in this respect that it has always considered that these associations have none of the attributes characteristic of free and independent workers' organizations that are the objective of the Convention. Indeed, the Committee fears that the Government's continued insistence on the role of the welfare associations in respect of the application of the Convention, without any other real progress in this application, is simply an indication of the lack of seriousness given to the fundamental matters raised by the Committee over these many years..."