RIYADH, 3 April 2003 — The board of directors of the Manpower Development Fund met here yesterday under the chairmanship of Interior Minister Prince Naif and made allocations in this year’s budget to train and employ 20,000 young men and women.
According to Dr. Muhammad Al-Sahlawi, director general of the fund, Prince Naif, who is also chairman of the Manpower Council, emphasized the importance of Saudizing jobs in the private sector.
“Private companies must make use of the Manpower Development Fund,” Al-Sahlawi quoted the minister as telling the board members, who included Labor and Social Affairs Minister Dr. Ali Al-Namlah.
Prince Naif also called for opening channels of communication between private companies, the chambers of commerce and the fund to speed up the Saudization drive aimed at cutting down the country’s unemployment rate.
Dr. Ali Al-Ghafees, governor of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training, attended the board meeting, which endorsed the fund’s budget for 2003 and approved its previous financial reports.
Other prominent participants were Abdullah Zainal Alireza, chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Abdul Wahid Al-Humaid, secretary-general of the Manpower Council, and Abdullah Al-Othaim, director of the Statistics Department at the Planning Ministry.
Meanwhile, a meeting held at the Jeddah chamber proposed the establishment of a specialized training center in cooperation with the Manpower Development Fund to train more Saudis to take up jobs in the travel and tourism sectors.
Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, said that the travel and tourism strategy for the Kingdom will be launched in Jeddah within a few months.
