South Africa's Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies will provide insight into the newly approved Industrial Policy Action Plan (Ipap), for the period 2010 to 2013, at a briefing on Thursday.

The briefing will take place in Cape Town the day after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is scheduled to present his inaugural Budget address.

The timing is suggestive of the fact that the National Treasury, which had previously been reticent in its support for the Ipap, was ready to lend its weight to the long-awaited upscaling of industrial policy.

The new Ipap was approved for implementation by Cabinet at its meeting of February 10, 2010, which took place ahead of President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address on Thursday evening.

Many analysts had expected the Ipap to feature strongly in the address, but Zuma glossed over the issue, saying only that the Ipap, and government's new focus on green jobs, would build stronger and more labour-absorbing industries.

The Cabinet statement released on Friday said that the new plan was an expansion on the first Ipap, with a greater focus on interventions to alter the structure of the economy to support the creation of "decent work".

"The plan will be reviewed annually to ensure that its objectives are met. Progress reports on the implementation of Ipap will be submitted to Cabinet every six months," the Cabinet statement read.

Minister in The Presidency for Monitoring and Evaluation Collins Chabane said at the weekend that the plan would also seek to improve competitiveness at firm and sector levels, by decreasing concentration and increasing innovation and productivity.

Chabane added that trade policy should be supportive of the country's aspiration to improve the quantity and diversification of exports, within a robust regulatory environment.

"We also need to consider a single regulatory coordinator, under the Competition Commission, to enhance consistency and quality of regulation," Chabane said.