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H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Chairman of the Education and Human Resources Council (EHRC), presided over a workshop of the Council, held at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, ADNOC, on Sunday.

He was welcomed upon his arrival to the ADNOC headquarters by an Emirati student studying in Japan, through a televised screen attached to a robot.

The workshop was attended by Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, Abdul Rahman bin Mohammad bin Nasser Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention; Saqr bin Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation; Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education; Najla bint Mohammed Al Awar, Minister of Community Development; Jameela bint Salem Al Muhairi, Minister of State for Public Education; Dr. Ahmad bin Abdulla Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education; Dr. Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and CEO of the ADNOC Group; Shamma bint Sohail Faris Al Mazrui, Minister of State for Youth Affairs; Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Education Council and Dr. Abdullah Al Karam, Director General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority.

During the workshop, the EHRC members discussed the national job market, the level of local employment in various sectors and the number of initiatives and programmes for improving job prospects for citizens.

Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, highlighted some of the challenges and obstacles for creating new job opportunities for citizens that will be faced by authorities, such as training and targeting citizens for jobs, available job opportunities in a number of sectors including industry, aviation, securities and commodities, insurance, as well as tourism and auditing.

He then discussed a number of long and short term initiatives, including in securities and commodities, as well as funding for professional licensing programme examinations and a financial surveillance programme initiative on leadership training for future employees.

Saqr bin Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, proposed creation of a human resources development fund to support the Emiratisation drive.

He explained that the fund's programmes would seek to raise the numbers of Emirati workforce and improve their competitive advantages through education, training, skill development and mentoring.

He highlighted the outcomes of government accelerators relevant to Emiratisation, saying that over 1,000 UAE nationals were recently absorbed in the banking and financial sectors, thanks to collaboration among the ministry, the Central Bank, the Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies, and a number of banks and financial companies.

He also revealed that of 178 banking and financial companies contacted, 94 cooperated by hiring 409 UAE nationals, while 7,637 job seekers were invited to attend two career fairs.

Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education spoke about the challenges relating to general and technical education, public and private sectors and the job market.

He also proposed an agreement between the ministry and the private sector, under which, the government would develop training programmes for Emirati job seekers to meet the requirements of the private sector.

Najla bint Mohammed Al Awar, Minister of Community Development said her ministry's numerous initiatives included one that promotes "working from anywhere".

She also called for promoting the human resources regulations pertaining to allowing part time job for certain occupations.

She cited statistics as showing that out of 55,000 national students, 28,000 specialise in business, economics and engineering, which limit the diversity of skills.

She added that 80 percent of national graduate with specializations required by the private sector. They, however, prefer to join the public sector.

Dr. Ahmad bin Abdulla Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education, underlined an initiative to introduce a compulsory subject of Emirati studies, to be taught by Emirati teaching staff.

According to the minister, the proposed subject would instill the sense of patriotism by educating the students on social aspects of the UAE, including history, geography, social development, women empowerment, multi-cultaralism, economics and technology.

Shamma bint Sohail Faris Al Mazrui, Minister of State for Youth Affairs, made a presentation on the challenges face by the Emirati youth and detailed some initiatives to create job and skill development opportunities to the youth, include the freelancers initiative and the part-time jobs in government sectors.