On 19 October 2016, State Secretary Fahimi met with Hanif Dhakiri, Indonesia’s labour minister. Minister Dhakiri and his delegation spent several days in Germany. During their stay, they mainly wanted to learn more about Germany’s system of dual vocational training.

State Secretary Fahimi explained: Dual vocational training is one of the main reasons why Germany’s youth unemployment is low by international standards. Young persons who have successfully completed their vocational training have good prospects of sustainable integration into the labour market. She added that multiple players were involved in the vocational-training system. Companies, trade chambers, trade unions as well as various federal ministries and German states were all working together on issues such as the modernisation of curricula. State Secretary Fahimi especially stressed the role of the private sector, explaining that it invested a lot of money in vocational training as it had a major stake in securing its supply of skilled labour.

It is necessary to offer young people various support services on their paths towards vocational training. State Secretary Fahimi emphasised that it was one of the goals of the German government to continue to offer special assistance to those young people for whom it was more difficult to start vocational training, such as people with disabilities or a migrant background. For this reason, Germany was continuously refining its programmes in support of vocational training. Examples included career-entry support, which is a programme that starts the year before young people finish school, and assisted apprenticeships for which there is currently a trial period.

State Secretary Fahimi offered to continue the dialogue in this area and in other fields of labour-market and social policy. She believes that the German G20 Presidency in 2017 will be an excellent opportunity to do so. Indonesia is a member of the G20 and the largest G20 emerging country.