ADB Annual Meeting in Frankfurt – Focus on vocational education and training
Germany hosted the Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the first time. Vocational education and training was one of the main topics of the event, resulting in an agreement to expand the cooperation between Germany and ADB in this field. GOVET was represented at the Annual Meeting with an information stand.
The 49th Annual Meeting of the ADB took place from 2 to 5 May in Frankfurt am Main. The meeting was organised by the ADB together with the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Keeping with the motto ‘Cooperating for Sustainability’, more than 3000 representatives from business, politics and civic organisations discussed the future directions of Asian development finance.
One main topic of the conference was vocational education and training. In her welcome address, Chancellor Merkel emphasised: “How well employees are trained, how good their specialist knowledge is, how well they can keep pace with new developments, how well they are protected against workplace accidents - I believe that questions such as these will be asked increasingly frequently over the next few years. Germany is very willing to collaborate with you on the issue of dual vocational education and training, as we refer to it in Germany”.
The BMZ and ADB had previously signed the ‘Frankfurt Declaration’. In this, both partners state their intention to strengthen and extend their cooperation in vocational education and training in Asia. During the Annual Meeting, this topic was dealt with in various events. In the so-called host country seminar entitled ‘Empowerment through Technical and Vocational Education and Training – Innovative Financing Approaches’ experts discussed innovative financing and cooperation approaches in the field of VET. The same topic was introduced to those participating in the ADB Annual Meeting’s ‘City of Sustainability’. In this context, GOVET participated with a stand and shared their experiences of German collaboration in vocational education and training with ADB participants.
Taken as a whole, the ADB Annual Meeting, the agreements that were reached and the accompanying events provided important impetus for German collaboration in vocational education and training in Asia.
The headquarters of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is based in Manila, in the Philippines. It is currently the largest multilateral institution for development financing in Asia. Germany participated in the establishment of ADB in 1966 and, as of today, is the largest European shareholder of the bank.
