Tunis: The Regional High-Level Meeting on Young People's Learning, Skilling, and Transition to Decent Work, which opened on Wednesday in Tunis, will examine the challenges facing Arab youth in reducing unemployment and finding alternatives and new mechanisms for employment, such as skills in the digital transition, the use of artificial intelligence and business creation. This second regional meeting (the first was held in Jordan in May 2022), which will take place over two days in Tunis under the theme "Learning for work", will bring together some twenty Arab countries, five ministers and 250 participants from all Arab countries. The aim of this regional meeting is to deepen the exchange of expertise and experience in the fields of vocational training, employment and the digital transition, strengthen policies and regulatory frameworks in the Arab region and set concrete national objectives by identifying the challenges affecting the transition of young people from learning to work, particularly with regar d to skills, digital jobs and artificial intelligence. Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, Lotfi Dhiab, took the opportunity to point out that this meeting is a regular opportunity to learn about different experiences, exchange points of view and study the approaches adopted in order to make the most of them in accordance with the specific characteristics of the Arab countries. He stressed the need to renew and modernise the human resources training system and to adopt academic knowledge and concepts by repositioning the school in the light of the characteristics and traits of the citizen of tomorrow, his or her skills, aptitudes and abilities to meet the needs of national and international sustainable development. In this context, he pointed out that education policies could be revised in an integrated manner to facilitate a smooth transition from education to vocational training and technical education by adopting a comprehensive approach in which the role and function of each part is derived from the common objectives of ensuring social inclusion. The Minister for Employment and Vocational Training explained that through the Tunisia 2035 industrial and innovation strategy, Tunisia is working to reduce inequalities and unemployment among young people and women, particularly those with higher education qualifications. This is by supporting the development and improvement of individual skills and by improving the quality of human resources and adapting them to the changes and needs of the labour market. Dhiab pointed out that Tunisia has placed its faith in vocational training as one of the pillars of the national system for upgrading and complementing human resources, as part of an integrated and diversified system capable of keeping pace with the skills needs of the productive sector and making vocational training a path to success. United Nations Resident Coordinator in Tunisia, Arnaud Peral, stressed in a statement to TAP the need to find mechanisms and programmes to facilitate the transition of young people in the Arab region from training to work, and in particular to decent work, in view of the high youth unemployment rates in the region, which reach 30% in some countries and 40% for women. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse