Recognizing the importance of Vocational Education and Training (VET) towards making transformational impact in creating sustainable livelihood opportunities for the youth and building efficient pool of skilled human resource, India and Germany on Tuesday agreed to further strengthen collaboration in this area.
Both leaders acknowledged the global need to bridge the gap between the demand and shortage of skilled work force.
They expressed satisfaction at the close cooperation in the area of skill development and agreed to support the on-going activities within the agenda decided by the Joint Working Group on VET. They also agreed to hold the next meeting of Joint Working Group on VET in Germany before the end of 2017.
Germany also welcomed India's massive effort to enhance its skill development landscape by engaging the industry into the provision and implementation of VET.
Both countries acknowledged the well-established dual VET system in Germany, which includes the interests of the industry on all levels and creates skilled personnel that meets the demands of the labour market.
The leaders agreed that cooperation should be jointly explored for the establishment of India's National Institute of Skill Development (NISD), of an Indian Institute of Skills (IIS) e.g. through linking it with possible German partners as well as of India international skill centers to be established in the country for providing pre-departure orientation.
Both sides welcomed the signing of the Joint Declaration of Intent on cooperation in the field of vocational education and skill development for the machine tools sector and of the Joint Declaration of Intent on the advancement of dual VET and collaboration on Training of VET cluster managers and Indian skill development officers.
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They also welcomed the "Alliance on Dual VET" (Vocational Education and Training) founded by Indian industrialists and leaders of major Indian companies, aspiring to ensure India's industries' proactive participation in strengthening skills and employability of young people.
In the same way, both welcomed the envisaged technical cooperation programme for training and skill development for solar technologies.