Technical And Vocational Development Collaboration With Saudi Arabia Soon

SHAH ALAM (Selangor, Malaysia), March 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysia wants to utilise Saudi Arabia's expertise in developing the technical and vocational fields to ensure that at least 35 per cent of skilled work force is secured by 2020. Deputy Human Resources Minister Ismail Abd Muttalib said this would be possible since Saudi Arabia is better exposed to the aspects of technical and vocational development while possessing an array of skills institutions based on high technology. "Since, they (Saudi Arabia) have more than 100 industrial training institutes, there can be an exchange of expertise, especially as the Saudi Arabia government has offered their expertise in such fields," he said. He was met by reporters after accompanying Saudi Arabian Labour and Social Development Minister Dr Ali Nassir Al Ghafies on a tour of the Advanced Technology Training Centre (ADTEC) here Thursday. Ismail said, Malaysia's current total skilled workforce stood only at 28 per cent, which was still low when compared with developed countries. He said Malaysia needed to increase its involvement in fields of high technology as there were at least 50 fields ventured by developed countries. Ali's visit to ADTEC was aimed at establishing close cooperation between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia in empowering the development of technical vocational education training (TVET). -- BERNAMA