COLOMBO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Hambantota International Port (HIP), situated in southern Sri Lanka, will partner with the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) to provide training and skill transfer to youth, the HIP said in a statement on Friday.
The HIP statement said that training programs will be conducted for youth in areas adjacent to the Hambantota Port, in the third most populous province in the country. The training programs will prepare youth for jobs in port operations and allied industries, the statement said.
CEO of Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG), Ray Ren, said that trainees would receive certificates with local and international recognition. "The training programs with NAITA would not only introduce port related vocational opportunities for youth from the region, but it would also increase their employability," he said.
Programs will be conducted with 15 trainee batches and cover basic firefighting, crane operating and general operations. The best performing graduates of each batch will be considered for employment at HIP. 14 trainees have recently completed the first training program on basic fire fighting recently. A second intake is scheduled for December 2019.
In 2017, China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPH) signed a three year MoU with NAITA. According to the agreement, CMPH would upgrade NAITA's training facilities, while the latter would support the Hambantota International Port in keeping to the required standards in setting the training programs and qualification certifications, etc.
NAITA has also partnered with CMPH since 2012 to train workers for Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) at the Port of Colombo. Some 80 percent of operational staff at the CICT were recruited from NAITA training programs.
Both HIPG and CICT are joint ventures of CMPH and the Sri Lankan government.
NAITA is a Sri Lankan state-run training institute established in 1990. It is the successor to the National Apprentice Board established in 1971 to co-ordinate and regulate enterprise-based apprenticeships.
