In the context of the preparation of the National Action Plan for the European Year of Skills 2023 that will be submitted to the Council of Ministers by the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, Minister Yannis Panayiotou had a meeting today with MEP Mr.
In his statements after the very constructive, as he described it, meeting, Mr Panagiotou said that Cyprus intends to make full use of the opportunities provided through the European Year of Skills, and added: "Following the discussion I had a few weeks ago with my European counterparts at the Council of Ministers in Brussels, the Action Plan that we will submit to the Council of Ministers is already in the process of preparation. The role of the Cypriot MEP, as Rapporteur on behalf of the European Parliament, is very important and for Cyprus it is a role of strategic importance. Through close cooperation with Mr. Fourlas, he concluded, many important things will be achieved for our country, "because we, as a small country, rely mainly on our people, their skills and their ability to provide quality services."
For his part, Mr. "I am very pleased to say that with what I have heard from the Minister, Cyprus can be a model for other European countries in terms of implementing the Year of Skills, for the benefit of the European citizens of the country. I am at the disposal of both the Minister and Cyprus to see how we can take advantage of all that the Year of Skills has to offer."
In response to a question, the Minister said:
"The European Year of Skills focuses on the development of green and digital skills, which, particularly in the current economic environment in which we find ourselves, are very specific and very clear. We will use the framework of model vocational qualifications - where the HRD Authority has already done a very significant amount of preparatory work - so that through the structures and capabilities that we have, with the Productivity Centre of the Ministry of Labour playing a key role in this, very targeted training programmes, focusing on green and digital skills, can be designed directly, very targeted training programmes that are available for professionals who need this kind of upgrading to be able to
