Russia announces plans to bid for WorldSkills 2019

During a recent visit to Moscow, the WorldSkills International (WSI) Board of Directors had the opportunity to meet with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets, Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov Mitri, the Minister of Labour and Social Protection Maxim Topilin as well as heads of relevant departments cooperating with the Agency of Strategic Initiatives for vocational and professional standards. The discussion were centred around the future developments of WorldSkills Russia. It was a chance for WorldSkills to explain their vision, mission and objectives for the organization and how different WorldSkills is from country to country. The meeting included key information from the members of the Board of Directors about the vast benefits of being Members of WorldSkills such as the ability to benchmark with international standards, the opportunity to share and learn best practices and most importantly the economic impact that WorldSkills has on a country.

The big announcement of the meeting was a response to the request of the President of Russia on how to apply to bid to host the 45th WorldSkills Competition in Moscow in 2019.

"We spend a lot of meetings with representatives of employers to rethink our professional standards. That is why today’s meeting is so important for us, and I hope that our cooperation will help us to implement the tasks facing Russia. That is why on behalf of the President of Russia we have made the decision to submit bid to host WorldSkills Moscow 2019. We plan to file our application in July 2014", said Olga Golodets.

The President of the Board of Directors of WorldSkills International, Simon Bartley, thanked the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministers for the opportunity to meet and invited them to the Opening of the Moscow regional WorldSkills Russia Competition, which began on 1 November.

"To come and see the event is very important, as seeing is believing”, said Mr Bartley. 

To conclude the meeting, Olga Golodets thanked the members of the Board of Directors of WSI for the meaningful exchange of experiences.

"It is nice to know that Russia is not alone in their concerns to increase the quality of vocational education and that these same problems are being solved and worked on by other countries. I am sure that our goals are the same and our collaboration with WSI would be useful. And I hope that together we will make new steps in the development of professional competencies on a global level", concluded Ms Golodets.