Govt Confident Of Retaining Skilled Malaysians Over Time

TASEK GELUGOR (Penang, Malaysia), March 31 (Bernama) -- Over time, the government is confident of retaining skilled Malaysians to work in the country, given various measures in developing talents and improving productivity. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the government set up the TalentCorp Malaysia to attract Malaysians abroad to return home to work, while at the same time, nurture and develop its people. "It is very important now for us to develop and nurture the skills and retain them as much as possible here, with good salary and working conditions," he told reporters after launching the SkillsMalaysia Northern Corridor Carnival 2012 here Saturday. Also present were Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) chief executive Redza Rafiq, Human Resources Ministry Secretary-General Zainal Rahim Seman and Skills Development Department Director-General Dr Pang Chau Leong. Nor Mohamed, who is also Tasek Gelugor member of parliament, said the government aimed to become a developed nation by 2020, with high-income as the condition, adding that productivity and innovation were key to a high-income economy. The two-day carnival was jointly organised by NCIA and the Skills Development Department (northern region), offering about 8,500 job opportunities via 84 booths. Nor Mohamed said the carnival was aimed at developing talent, especially supporting the government's goals of achieving 40 per cent of skilled workers by 2020, from the current 28 per cent. He said it was important to create awareness for potential and opportunities through technical education and vocational training, provide training and job placement to the local community and improve competitiveness of skilled workers via re-training. Nor Mohamed said 70,565 jobs were set to be created in the Northern Corridor up to 2020, from the 26 entry point projects, namely in tourism (23,208), manufacturing (21,104), agriculture (2,637) and logistics (23,626). -- BERNAMA