European Union meets Central Asia to work jointly on skills development and employment of youth
The conference was organised by ETF in cooperation with the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs ‘Atameken’.
In the opening day of the conference, the countries of Central Asia shared their priorities in DARYA – Dialogue and Action for Resourceful Youth in Central Asia – in relation to their main human capital development reforms. They prepared to confirm areas of interest for regional/multi-country cooperation, and kick-off networking and peer learning among Central Asian countries and EU Member States.
The event gathered high-level speakers including the EU Ambassador to Kazakhstan His Excellency Mr Kestutis Jankauskas, Vice Minister of Employment and Social Protection of the Population the Republic of Kazakhstan Mr Olzhas Ordabayev, First Vice Minister of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ms Sholpan Karinova, and ETF Director Xavier Matheu de Cortada.
"The partnership between the European Union and Central Asia is getting stronger with an emphasis on the human capital. DARYA project will help VET professionals to work closer together and to raise the prestige of technical professions. This will provide thousands of young people with better opportunities in life",
noted Kestutis Jankauskas, EU Ambassador to Kazakhstan.
Commenting on progress in Central Asia, ETF Director Xavier Matheu de Cortada said,
“Each country has indeed achieved a lot, while we also have to acknowledge that a lot remains to be done. People and systems need to evolve and adapt to ever changing challenges. We know that there is one massive success factor to support change: to work in partnership. DARYA will provide completely new opportunities to work together.”
DARYA will work with people across the public and private sectors in education and the labour market in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as organisations and peer groups in Europe during the coming five years to support self-sustaining, long-term strategies for skills and labour market development.
BACKGROUND
DARYA - A new era for education and training in Central Asia | ETF (europa.eu) – EN