PARIS, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The French government would devote 15 million euros (17.39 million U.S. dollars) to improve refugees' professional integration by helping them develop skills and seek new initiatives, France inter radio reported on Monday.
As part of its investment in competence scheme, the government aimed at offering opportunities to thousands of asylum seekers "to create their own activity by developing local initiatives and associations... or by promoting the creation of new (ones) in cooperation between public authorities and private actors in the employment sector," the local radio said in a report.
"Training for refugees is essential because qualification is the key to successful integration," labor minister Muriel Penicaud was quoted as saying.
For January-July period of the year, the number of asylum seekers registered in France was at 60,000, up by 16 percent from the same period in 2017, according to data of French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (ofpra).
Last year, 100,412 people had asked refuge in France, according to ofpra. (1 euro = 1.159 U.S. dollars)
