The governments of the UAE and India announced the launch of a new strategic partnership focused on skills development and mutual recognition of qualifications.
The partnership was launched at a forum in Dubai, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FICCI, supported by the UAE’s Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, MOHRE, and India’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
The new partnership builds on a robust institutional framework of cooperation on labour and skilling matters. A strengthened MoU on cooperation in the labour field was signed during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra to UAE, in February 2018.
Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Omar Al Nuaimi, MOHRE Assistant Under-Secretary, said, "My hope is that this is only the first step in terms of increased collaboration between the UAE and India. It is also my hope that through this partnership, the UAE and India will lead the way regionally in making sure that the skilling of workers in our region is robust. By strengthening trust in the quality of training and certification, and by requiring workers to be skilled and certified prior to their arrival, we can improve the skills mix in the labour market, leading to improved labour productivity for business. The skilling of workers is also likely to positively impact the wage structure here in the UAE, ensuring that wages increase and improving competition among Emiratis for a variety of jobs."
The Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Navdeep Suri, in turn, said, "In the spirit of our MoUs on cooperation in the field of manpower and the Skill Development and Recognition of Qualifications, both countries have agreed to work together to integrate India’s eMigrate system with UAE’s labour e-platform and to facilitate skill development and employment of certified workforce in UAE. Integration of India’s eMigrate system with UAEs labour e-platform will be a very important step to stop contract substitution and to ensure protection and welfare of Indian workers and will benefit both the countries as well."
