RIYADH, 28 June 2003 — A group of 25 officials from the ministries of education and health left for Japan this week to attend special training programs organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
JICA, which is currently working with the Saudi government on several training projects, is organizing this program within the mandate of the Youth Friendship Program launched by it to promote Saudi-Japanese cooperation.
“In response to the invitation of the Japanese government, the Saudi government has sent 20 Saudi officials from the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT) to Japan to attend this program,” Seiichi Miyoshi, JICA’s resident representative, said here yesterday.
Miyoshi said the 24-day training program focused in particular on how to acquire skills for technical education.
JICA also organized special training programs for some 60 Saudi teachers earlier. The teachers were selected by the Ministry of Education to undergo training.
“These programs contribute considerably to the development of human resources in Saudi Arabia on the one hand and to the promotion of understanding and friendship between the two countries on the other.”
He said the Saudi government also selected five nursing education officials representing different Saudi health colleges and hospitals for the training program for health officials.
These Saudi nursing specialists will have the opportunity to understand different aspects of nursing education in Japan in a new move to educate Saudi nursing staff, who will eventually be absorbed in the health sector, Miyoshi said.
The move will also help to cut the Kingdom’s reliance on foreign nurses and nursing staff, who currently occupy about 95 percent of nursing positions in the country.
JICA has been organizing training courses on subjects like computer, electronics, clinical dentistry, intellectual property rights, consultancy, remote sensing, environment management and petrochemicals besides mass communication and management.
