The French Consulate in Jeddah and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) have signed an agreement which seeks to develop global standards for the local training of Saudis through institutions and centers in the Kingdom, in cooperation with France's National Association of Vocational Training of Adults. Christian Nakhlat, French Consul General, and Dr. Lama Abdul Aziz Al-Sulaiman, JCCI member and president of the Human Resource Development Council, signed the agreement last week. “This agreement reflects the good relations between Saudi Arabia and France,” said the Consul General. “Institutions are unique and distinctive in the field of training and development,” he added. Dr. Rashid Bin Mohammed Al-Zahrani, president of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training, said the training will apply to all institutes and training centers across the Kingdom. There will be around 170 participating institutes and training centers, comprising over 20,000 trainees. “This convention seeks to provide mechanisms to elevate the policy of training in the Kingdom in accordance with the global standards of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training,” said Dr. Al-Sulaiman. She said that global standards are the key to regulating the cooperation between the public and the private sector so as to obtain the best results in this area, thus enabling young people to get suitable jobs. “The French establishment that is working on the training projects in the Kingdom is one of the best in the world,” Dr. Al-Sulaiman claimed. “This agreement,” she said, “will develop regulations and global standards of institutes and centers, which will be classified into three categories: A, B and C that will ultimately create competitiveness”. Highlighting the efforts of the JCCI working group, Dr. Al-Sulaiman said that they have achieved positive results that have led “young Saudi men and women to train themselves, and thereby, replace the foreign nationals, paving the way for Saudization”.
