JEDDAH, 19 September 2003 — In the ongoing Saudization project, the emphasis is increasingly shifting from overnight Saudization of entire sectors to training young Saudis for a range of jobs to allow reliance on expatriate workers to be phased out organically.
The expanding printing industry is one such field. The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry is examining the possibilities of setting up a training program for Saudis interested in making printing their career.
“The JCCI’s printers committee is considering the prospects of instituting a training program for Saudi high school graduates,” Zeid B. Al-Jehni, managing director at Juffali Printing Systems-Heidelberg Saudi Arabia, told Arab News on Wednesday.
“While the JCCI is ready to support such a venture, it is for the private sector to come up with proposals and fund the project. Germany’s Heidelberg Print Media Academy (HPMA) is willing to cooperate in establishing an institute,” Al-Jehni said during the visit of Holger Garbrecht, managing director of Heidelberg’s market center for Western Europe, Middle East and Africa.
“Vocational training is the need of the hour. Heidelberg and JPS are ready to offer support by providing a curriculum, trainers and training equipment,” Al-Jehni said. A number of Saudis have already been trained at HPMA’s main Middle East center in Cairo.
“Some 50 percent of the students in the Cairo center are from the Kingdom,” he said. Bahrain and Muscat also have such training programs.
Garbrecht, who met local businessmen at a reception on Tuesday night, said the Kingdom represented a growing market for Heidelberg’s new printing machinery.
“The Kingdom and Dubai are the main centers where the graphic arts industry is making rapid strides. The industry accounts for SR3.1 billion in the Gulf,” he said.
Electronic communication is adding new dimensions to the sector, Garbrecht said. “The Internet has not had an adverse impact on the printing industry. Far from it: The Internet era is bringing new business to the industry,” he said.
