Cairo: Saudi Arabia’s labour authorities have unveiled councils aimed to promote skills in 12 key sectors and meet the job market needs in the kingdom.
The initiative is part of Saudi efforts to provide more training opportunities for, develop skills of its citizens and boost their engagement in the labour market.
“The launch of the 12 sector councils for skills across the kingdom reflects belief in the importance of the private sector and marks a significant step in fulfilling our ambitions to build an integrated skill system responding to needs of different sectors and the labour market,” said Saudi Deputy Minister of Human Resources Abdullah bin Nasser.
He cited benefits of the nascent councils as accelerating employment rates, enhancing productivity and helping policymakers and providers of education and training services.
These councils, he explained, will act as partners to competent agencies in the public and private sectors as well as education and training institutions in setting plans, objectives and skill programmes.
The initiative, moreover, aims to create an integrated network of skill councils for major economic sectors vital for the kingdom’s gross domestic product and employment.
These sectors are those of wholesale and retail trade, culture and entertainment, construction and real estate, health, vocational services, logistics and transport, security services, digitalisation, financial and insurance services, tourism and hospitality, energy and industry.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has stepped up efforts to diversify its oil-reliant economy under an ambitious development scheme, known as Saudi Vision 2030.
