German Chamber of Commerce and Industry will convene a forum to discuss cooperation and strategies to promote technical education and training programs for human resources in the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf region. “The forum will provide new insights in Arab-German cooperation in the fields of education and technical education,” said Abdulrahim Hasan Naqi, Secretary General of the Federation of GCC Chambers of Commerce and Industry, announcing the holding of the forum. The 1st German-Arab Education and Vocational Training Forum will be held in Berlin on May 6-7 under the auspices of the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ghorfa) and in cooperation with the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. “Ghorfa and iMOVE, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research to promote cooperation and business relations between German training providers and international public and private organizations, are pleased to hold this forum as a way of continuing their strategic cooperation in the field of education,” said Dr. Thomas Bach, Ghorfa president. He said the forum will focus its discussions on the development and perspectives of education and technical training in the Arab States and how the so-called “Made in Germany” education and vocational training can provide the initiatives in advancing technical education in the Middle East. The forum will also examine in retrospect the successful German-Arab cooperation in higher education and vocational training; and enumerate the opportunities to further promote German-Arab collaboration in the field of education and vocational training. “An impressive number of successful Arab-German cooperation initiatives in the field of higher education and vocational training do already exist. However, there is still a lot of potential left. Our intension is to combine the existing potential of the German and Arab educational systems in order to construct a solid based partnership to the advantage of both sides,” Dr. Bach said. More than 200 educational and training companies which participated in the recently concluded and successful conference entitled “Building a German Arab Partnership in Skills Development,” which was held in December 2008 in Amman, Jordan, are also taking part in the forum. The two-day forum will feature high-ranking representatives from the Arab countries and Germany who will analyze the current situation in their respective countries and focus on new initiatives and trends in education. A key event will be the presentation of successful cooperation in the field of education and training. Among speakers from Arab countries are Osama Abdulmajed Ali Shobokshi, Ambassador of the Kingdom to Germany, and Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the League of Arab States. The German-Arab Education and Vocational Training Forum is a platform for developing and cultivating a network of both German and Arab education and vocational training providers, along with industrial firms and service companies interested in strengthening the education sector and mutual business relations.
