RIYADH: The Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) plans to train 950,000 Saudis by 2020 in various technical professions needed by the country using local and international experts.

This is according to TVTC Gov. Ahmed Al-Fuhaid, who was speaking at the Fourth Saudi-United States Business Opportunities Forum organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry that concluded here recently.

In his paper dealing with a strategy to build a globally competitive economy, he said international experts were an important component of the 36 Colleges of Excellence set up across the country.

Quoting statistics released by the Ministry of Labor in January this year, he said there were 1.8 million Saudis and 8.9 million expatriates in the private sector, and 3.4 million Saudis in the public sector, constituting a work force of 14.6 million.

He said the breakdown of Saudis working in various sectors of the economy was significant, which included energy at 77 percent, education 48.3 percent, business services 44 percent, health 28 percent, transport 21.3 percent, and other industries 22 percent.

He said Saudi Arabia had one of the largest number of students enrolled in higher education institutions at 94 percent, compared to 57 percent in the United Kingdom, 38 percent in Switzerland and 36 percent in Germany.

Most Saudi men were employed in security, production, sales and marketing, he said.