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Skilled Workforce Holds Key
By Lyna Mohamad

Bandar Seri Begawan - Human resource development is indeed one of the keys to the sustainable development of any nation and we in Brunei Darussalam are certainly well aware of the impact it will have on our current and future plans for economic diversification.

HRH Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office said this in his sabda at the official opening ofthe 6'h Asean Skills Competition, which the nation is hosting. HRH said labour statistics show that just over half of the workers in the nation's private sector come from neighbouring countries and other regional partners.

"The contribution of manpower from Asean member countries towards the development of Brunei has been significant and is greatly appreciated," said the Crown Prince.

As part of the nation building process "we must now make strides in filling some of the gaps in our skilled manpower requirements", he added. The initiative by Asean Labour Ministers in promoting skilled manpower development through the Asean Skills Competition is commendable and it will benefit Asean particularly at the grassroots level.

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The Crown Prince said the hosting of the 6th Asean Skills Competition is also timely for the Sultanate as it continues with its efforts in capacity building and economic diversification.

"Our gathering today marks another unique opportunity for our most important asset, our human resources, to demonstrate their skills and compete, and also just as importantly, to exchange views and experiences on technical issues as well as ideas on skills and vocational development."

HRH also said that the emphasis placed by this competition, in particular, upon the development of quality vocational and technical skills, as well as work values, becomes all the more important to youths as the demand for skilled workers increases both domestically and regionally.

The country will need a skilled workforce of the highest quality if any of the development objectives of our private sector are to be realised and in this regard, the Ministry of Education has developed strategies to strengthen the delivery of vocational and technical education programmes, said the Crown Prince.

"'We also recognise the importance of involving all the key stakeholders and to this end, I understand that 21 National Programme Advisory Committees have been established, whose members include representatives from both public and private sector organisations.

"These committees act as forums that allow for discussion and feedback on identifying the needs of all sectors for human resource development in the vocational and technical areas," HRH said.

The Crown Prince believes that this is in line with one of the objectives of the Asean Skills Competition to encourage close cooperation among governments, industries, employers' and workers' organisation and vocational training institutions. HRH also expressed his delight to see the nation becoming the 38t" member of the Worldskills International in 2004.

"I believe that Brunei Darussalam stands to gain much from our participation in the Worldskills organisation, whose mission shares much with our own vision for the development of quality vocational and technical education and training programmes.

"For Asean, our participation in the Worldskills Competition provides yet another avenue to attract the attention of foreign direct investment to our region, by showcasing the abilities of the skilled workforce of the region," he added.

HRH also made a call to continue; with the effort to build a strong labour force in the region, one with the quality and standard that would provide competitive edge globally as this is their commitment in line with Asean's continuous quest to reduce unemployment in the region and support the vision of a strong, secure and self-reliant community of caring societies by the year 2020.

HRH wished the participants success and hoped that their interaction during the competition would further consolidate and strengthen the friendships that exemplify the spirit of the community in Asean. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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