Saleh Fareed Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Dr. Ali Bin Nasser Al-Ghufais, Governor of the General Organization of Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTVET), inaugurated Sunday at Hilton Jeddah “ASTD MENA 2013” – the first ever Middle East and North African training and development. Speaking at the ceremony, Dr. Al Ghufais stressed on the important role played in developing skills across the Kingdom. He added that the government of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has been given so much attention to the technical and vocational training of young Saudis. The governor of GOTEVT announced that King Abdullah ordered an allocation of SR10 billion from Kingdom's surplus for the development of new colleges and vocational training institutes. According to Siraj Milbari, Managing Director, Professionals for Human Resources Development, the ASTD MENA 2013, under the theme “Enabling Excellence in Human Capital Development”, is designed for all professionals, trainers, and decision makers in the fields of Human Resources Development, Organizational Development, Learning & Development, Talent Management, Career Development, Performance Improvement/Coaching, and Training Technology. The event covers a vast spectrum ranging from CEOs and specialists to school heads and students. ASTD MENA 2013 is an international conference and exposition bringing Fortune 500 companies operating in the region together to share their experiences and insights in learning and development that will assist businesses of all sizes to further grow. There will be over 12 sessions in the 3-day conference, plus the post-conference comprehensive programs slated on January 16-17, 2013, Malibari further said. The first three days are divided into a series of courses or tracks from Driving Innovation and Creativity, Blended Learning/Learning Technologies, to Leadership Development/Talent Management. Twelve eminent speakers – Tony Bingham, Walter McFarland, Bill Olsen, Jack J. Phillips, Dato' R. Palan, Bob Pike, Clark Quinn, Suzanne Simpson,Khalid M. Al-Zamel, and Mohammed Benayoune – will shed light on training strategies that can be applied to accelerate innovative thinking in order to unleash creative problem solving abilities, leverage new technologies to optimize learning design in social and informal learning, and underline the fact that investing in the next generation of leaders is critical to sustaining competitive advantage and achieving organizational growth over the long term.
