AMMAN (ILO News) H.E. Boris Bolotin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Jordan welcomed participants to the ILO’s Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) workshop in Amman. The workshop is the first activity to take place in the country under the “Applying the G20 Training Strategy: A Partnership of the ILO and the Russian Federation” (Phase 2) project.

During his opening remarks, the Ambassador highlighted that although all countries are endowed with diverse natural resources, the most important resource to guarantee sustainable economic and social development is human potential. Making reference to the current situation in the Jordanian labour market, H.E. stressed the importance of increased international cooperation and the essential role that the international community can play to support Jordan and to work towards peace and stability, especially by increasing its efforts in the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

The workshop was attended by tripartite constituents, TVET institution managers, industry professionals, international development agencies and other interested stakeholders, who actively engaged in practical working groups with successful results. The workshop aimed at expanding stakeholders’ knowledge on the application of structured approaches in identifying, anticipating and planning for future skills needs – especially in sectors with significant trade and exporting potential in Jordan, such as: garments, wood and furniture, chemicals and printing and packaging – intending to improve economic and decent work outcomes through the application of the STED methodology.

The 2-day event also benefited from the participation of representatives from Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO who presented an innovative software tool for the training of TVET institution managers by using a web-based computer simulator. The computer simulator replicates the real-life operations of a TVET institution with more than 500 activity parameters and 200 decisions embedded in the model. The simulator was developed under Phase 1 of the Project and is being upgraded under Phase 2.

The workshop was preceded by the first meeting of the tripartite National Project Steering Committee (NPSC) that was hosted by the Ministry of Labour on 4 December 2017 and which represented the formal launch of the Project implementation in the country.

The ILO office in Jordan, with technical support from the Project team in Geneva, will continue to actively engage and cooperate with the tripartite constituents and other stakeholders to assist the implementation of Project activities towards achieving Decent Work for women and men.