The Association of Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS) Japan in collaboration with the Ministry of Industries will impart hi-tech training to the skilled and unskilled workforce in the fields of manufacturing, energy, environment, agriculture, industry, human capital development, productivity and education to achieve sustainable development in the country.
This was decided on Tuesday in a meeting held in the Ministry of Industries between the Federal Secretary Industries, Aziz Ahmad Bilour and the two member delegation which included AOTS President Kazuo Kaneko and AOTS New Delhi Office GM Yasumi Suzuki and Pakistan Japan Business Forum Executive Officer Shaheena Anjum.
In the meetings, the two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation through exchange of information, transfer of knowledge and technology, sharing information on industrial standards and best practices and research and development activities. Bilour proposed the idea of the establishment of Pak-Japan Training Institute to impart technical training to the workers and high level managers to modernise the industrial operations in the country. He appraised the delegation about the current endeavours of the Ministry of Industries (MoI) to enhance industrial productivity through different projects and organisations. He said that AOTS can collaborate with Pakistan Industrial Technical Assistance Centre (PITAC) and Pakistan Institute of Management Sciences, working under the ministry, and avail its facilities for training purposes.
The Secretary Industry suggested that Pakistani industrial trainers can be sent to Japan for training courses who in turn can impart training in the local training institutes. He emphasised that AOTS can also explore the possibility of upgrading the existing training institutes in Pakistan as was once done by JICA about 10 years ago by providing computers in the training laboratory. Access to digital libraries of Japan was also sought.
Talking at the occasion Kazuo Kaneko said that AOTS has provided training and scholarships to more than 2500 technicians in Pakistan and Japan and is interested in the exchange of knowledge and technology transfer.
He said that 40 years ago Japanese SME sector was confronted with the same problem of skilled labour but Japanese Government invested heavily in human resource development. He stressed that Pakistan can benefit from the Japanese experience and assistance.
AOTS is an expert training organisation of Japan that promotes technical cooperation through training activities in Japan and abroad, focusing mainly on the industrial workers from developing countries.
