Adel Fakeih

Labor Minister Adel Fakeih has reiterated the need to develop the skills of local manpower to reduce the Kingdom’s dependence on more than 10 million expatriate workers.

One of Saudi Arabia’s most pressing issues is to develop the skills of its young citizens, he said.

The minister made these comments during a panel session at the Global Competitiveness Forum 2015 in Riyadh, which concluded on Tuesday.

More than 1,800 local and foreign delegates attended the two-day forum, organized by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority.

During a panel discussion with Italian Economic Development Minister Frederica Guidi, Fakeih pointed out that there are plenty of jobs in the local market, which are manned by 10 million expatriate workers.

“Our focus is to train the local manpower with the needed skills and phase out the foreign workers, replacing them with local human resources,” the official said during the session.

The Kingdom has embarked on massive infrastructure and urban development projects where these foreign workers have been deployed, Fakeih said.

“We have plans to bolster the skills of the local manpower harnessing modern technology,” he said.

The total number of Saudi youths who found employment in the Kingdom in the past four years is very much higher than the figures recorded during the previous 40 years, he pointed out.

According to these plans, local human resources will be trained at universities, vocational training colleges and health facilities.

As part of these efforts, the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities recently inked a deal with

the colleges of excellence at the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation to train 10,000 Saudi youths in architectural heritage.

The Italian minister backed Fakeih’s ideas, when she stressed the importance of economic growth to open up new job opportunities for the people. Such growth, according to Guidi, could be generated only through

quality education and innovation.

The Italian minister explained how this initiative has been going on in her country for years, with universities and colleges in Italy providing direct links to the companies in the industrial sector in order to prepare students to cater to the needs of the local labor market.

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