Human Resources Must Be Prepared to Face AEC

Semarang (Antara) - The commitment of ASEAN member countries to prepare their human resources is a key to success in the face of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said. "The joint efforts of ASEAN member nations to increase the quality of their human resources must be made with a standardized training and work competence. This would serve as a barometer for the advancement of cooperation in the region," Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said after opening the 9th Senior Labor Officials' Meeting (SLOM) of ASEAN here on Tuesday. Muhaimin said that if a standardization of human resources quality was not prepared since the beginning, ASEAN will face problems of global challenges and competitions from advanced nations. Therefore, the standardization of human resources' competence should soon be prepared to shape the future of ASEAN in the face of globalized world. All ASEAN members should prepare skills, expertise and work competence standards. "We would like to remind educators in all ASEAN members of the need to include in their curricula subjects on international work competence standards," noted Muhaimin. He said that education, courses, trainings, vocational schools and universities must pay attention to the work competence standards at least for the ASEAN level so that all educational curricula in ASEAN would meet the standards and would be recognized at the international level. "If the ASEAN community is composed of many workers with international work competence standard, ASEAN will come up as the center of growth in Asia, or even in the world, so that our common goal of improving the welfare of the people would be achieved soon," Muhaimin asserted. (*)