The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development celebrated World Youth Skills Day 2023, which is held on July 15th every year under the theme: "Refining the skills of workers, trainees, and youth for a future of transformation." The participation comes in alignment with the Ministry's workforce strategy, aimed at supporting the skills of the youth, providing them with the necessary capabilities, and keeping pace with the professional developments witnessed in the labor market.

Dr. Ahmed Al-Zahrani, the Undersecretary of the Ministry for Skills and Training, highlighted that skills development and enhancement are a national strategic priority for the Kingdom. He emphasized the importance of the youth's role as one of the key components in the national skills strategy.

Dr. Al-Zahrani further pointed out that the Ministry has launched several initiatives to support the skills of the youth, such as the "Sectoral Skills Councils Initiative," the "National Professional Standards Initiative," the "Promise" program to encourage the private sector to provide training opportunities, the "Skills Accelerator Initiative," and training vouchers. These initiatives aim to develop the skills of national talents in various sectors and increase their participation in the job market. He explained that the first phase of the national training campaign "Promise," in collaboration with the private sector, has achieved over 192,000 training opportunities during the first half of the current year. The campaign aims to reach more than 1.15 million training opportunities by the end of 2025.

It is worth noting that the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development is working on a plan to establish and activate 12 sectoral skills councils and design 12 frameworks for technical and specialized sectoral skills, covering 2,000 skills and developing standards for 300 sectoral professions and career paths by the year 2025. The ministry has recently launched three sectoral councils, including the tourism and hospitality sector, the energy and public utilities sector, and the manufacturing sector. Furthermore, the Ministry aims to train and qualify more than 322,000 Saudi employees through the Skills Accelerator Initiative and training vouchers.