State Secretary Yasmin Fahimi welcomed His Excellency Dr Awwad S. Alawwad, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on 24 August 2016.
During his first meeting at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Ambassador presented Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030", which contains comprehensive goals for Saudi Arabia's government, economy, labour market and society for the period up to 2030. In the field of labour market policies, it is one of the strategy's priorities to develop attractive new professional opportunities for young people. The Ambassador explained that this was one way in which Saudi Arabia was responding to the challenges posed by its very young population. The Ambassador added that half of the population was under the age of 25 and that more than one in four people between the ages of 15 to 29 were out of work. Increasing the labour-market participation of women from the current 20% to 40% was another important goal of the "Vision 2030".
State Secretary Fahimi and the Ambassador agreed that a tailored vocational training system was instrumental in creating more and better jobs for young people. In this field, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs would be able to share Germany's experience with career guidance, placement into vocational training and the promotion of vocational training.
Both sides welcomed the fact that the two countries were collaborating on this issue at the G20 level and agreed that they will continue their bilateral exchange of views on youth employment and female labour-market participation during Germany's upcoming G20 Presidency.