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MOSCOW, 25 August (BelTA) – WorldSkills member countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Armenia) have signed a declaration to establish a new regional organization WorldSkills Eurasia, the press service of WorldSkills Russia noted, BelTA has learned.

“WorldSkills Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Armenia signed a declaration to set up WorldSkills Eurasia. Attending the ceremony was WorldSkills International President Simon Bartley. Apart from the core of WorldSkills Eurasia, twelve countries will exchange the best practices in the new organization, namely Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Mongolia, Moldova, India, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan,” the press service said.

WorldSkills Russia added that closer cooperation in developing human capital between the four neighboring states will help boost the workforce productivity and unleash the professional potential of every citizen in the Eurasian states. “This is a wonderful idea. True success is not about championships. It is about the number of people in countries and regions whose professional skills comply with global standards,” Simon Bartley remarked.

The members of WorldSkills Eurasia tested one of the modes of cooperation during the finals of the 5th National WorldSkills Championship Russia 2017 (Young Professionals) in Krasnodar. As many as 172 participants from Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan took part in the first Open Eurasian WorldSkills Championships and obtained documents confirming their professionalism.

WorldSkills Eurasia will become the sixth member association of WorldSkills International and will join WorldSkills Americas, WorldSkills ASEAN, WorldSkills GCC, WorldSkills Oceania, and WorldSkills Europe. Assisting WorldSkills Eurasia with its tasks will be intergovernmental bodies and organizations such as the Eurasian Economic Union, the Eurasian Economic Commission, the Eurasian Development Bank, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The Eurasian states also signed a more detailed cooperation agreement which contains plans to introduce a common system to assess professional skills that will be recognized by all the parties, and to make predictions about ‘dying’ jobs and jobs of the future under the Russian FutureSkills initiative. There are plans to work out a program of cooperation in the development of human capital and human resources for the Eurasian states based on WorldSkills methods and standards.