The government has taken an initiative to provide skills development training to 1.5 million people under a finance ministry project funded by the Asian Development Bank with the aim of raising productivity in public and private sectors. At the inaugural ceremony of ‘Skills for Employment Investment Programme’ on Monday, finance minister AMA Muhith said the country had to spend about $4 billion a year from its foreign currency reserve for paying overseas employees as there was a shortage of skilled manpower in Bangladesh. As a partner of the project Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association organised the event at the Sonargaon Hotel in the city. Muhith said, ‘If the productivity rises, the country’s income will increase. Without enhancing skills of its workforce and productivity we cannot implement our development plans and materialise our dreams.’ He said that the ministry estimated the cost of the project at $1 billion for five years and the government would contribute $200 million. Jalal Ahmed, additional secretary of the finance ministry also the project director of SEIP, said out of 1.5 million, 2.6 lakh people would be trained by 2017 in the first phase of the programme and 70 per cent of them would be provided with gainful jobs. He said that the training would be provided by the institutions under both public and private sectors like Department of Technical Education, Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, BGMEA, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association and non-government organisations. BGMEA vice-president Reaz-bin-Mahmood said the trade body would provide training to 43,000 people under the project and already it had started the training of 1,350 mid- and entry-level garment sector employees. Acting BGMEA president SM Mannan Koci also spoke, among others, at the programme.
