RIYADH, 29 April 2005 — Saudi youths have broken with the past. They are now ready to take up blue-collar jobs, British Ambassador Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles said here on Tuesday.
He was speaking to Arab News during his visit to the new headquarters of the Saudi Development and Training, an economic offset program company. A total of 200 Saudi youths are being trained here in various engineering fields.
The ambassador said he was very impressed by the motivation and quality of Saudi youths working in the company. “It disproves the myth about Saudis not being interested in technical skills and hard work,” he said. “We exactly see the opposite here. Young Saudis are determined to get engaged in electronic, mechanical and computer skills to build this country.”
Expressing his happiness over SDT’s commitment to train Saudi youths, Sir Cowper-Coles said the company’s program would contribute to the overall development of the Kingdom.
He said Britain’s investment in the Kingdom is estimated at $3 billion, while an equal amount has been invested by Saudi businessmen in his country. “British exports to the Kingdom are valued at 1.6 billion pounds,” he added.
“Since its inception in 1993, SDT has been training young aircraft engineers to assist the Kingdom in its Saudization program,” SDT Chief Executive Officer Paul Dugan told the British envoy while briefing him about the company’s training projects.
Dugan said the graduates from the company have replaced expatriates in various positions in the aircraft maintenance sectors. He pointed out that technical, vocational and education programs have been approved by UK awarding bodies such as Edexcel, UK’s Science, Engineering, Manufacturing and Technical Association (SEMTA) and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).
Dugan said some 2,000 Saudi employees are being trained under Learning and Development (L&D) program under the BAE Systems, an Al-Yamamah offset program.
