2010 - Our 60th Anniversary Year

Dear *|FNAME|*,

Looking back over the year we have much to celebrate and looking ahead there are many exciting initiatives on the horizon. Despite the ongoing fallout of the Global Financial Crisis, WorldSkills is set to break the 1,000 mark for the number of Competitors who will participate in the 41st WorldSkills Competition (WSC2011) in London, October next year.

Tjerk Dusseldorp handing over the WSI Membership certificate to Xiaochu Dai, Official Delegate of China

We have also exceeded our target of 50 Members by 2010. With China becoming our 53rd Member country/region, WorldSkills International (WSI) has taken a big step towards becoming a truly global organisation.

We have also gained two new Global Industry Partners (Lincoln Electric and Siemens) to achieve our target of 10 Global Industry Partners by 2010.

Our brand development strategy has received a big boost with the four regional skills competitions being branded under the WorldSkills banner.

With the birth of WorldSkills Americas (held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) earlier this year, the 8th WorldSkills ASEAN (held in Bangkok, Thailand) and the 2nd EuroSkills (held in Lisbon, Portugal), we are setting new benchmarks for our skills movement and both widening and deepening our reach across the world.

At our General Assembly, held in Kingston, Jamaica a couple of months ago, we elected a new Board of Directors who will take office immediately after WSC2011.

President-elect Simon Bartley, CEO of UK Skills, is responsible for delivering WorldSkills London 2011. I’ve no doubt he and his committed team will raise the bar even higher than the achievements by WorldSkills Calgary 2009.

Simon has set himself the goal of changing WorldSkills current status as the “best kept secret in the world”. I’m confident that over the next five years WorldSkills is set to gain the global public attention it so richly deserves.

Our young Champions are also doing their bit to promote WorldSkills through their social media networks. As a recent convert to Facebook, I can attest to the growing awareness of our skills promotion efforts across the world.

Our 3rd WorldSkills Youth Forum, held in conjunction with the General Assembly, created “Steve and Steph” as our skill movement’s youth personalities. You’ll see them at every WorldSkills related event in our busy year round calendar, sharing the stories and championing the WorldSkills movement. Sign up as a fan on their Facebook pages: Steve, Steph and WorldSkills International

Last, but not least, we are launching the WorldSkills Foundation in April 2011, as a complementary body to WSI to focus on the advocacy and education objectives of our shared vision and mission.

On behalf of my fellow Directors I wish you all a peaceful holiday season and the prospect of an exciting and challenging New Year!

Tjerk Dusseldorp
President, WorldSkills international