Mikheil Batiashvili - the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia together with Elizabeth Rudd - the acting Ambassador of United States of America to Georgia and Magda Magradze – the executive Director of Millennium Challenge Fund Georgia opened an annual International Conference on Investment in Human Capital and addressed the attending audience.

At the conference, which is part of the Vocational Education Week and Millennium Challenge Fund's "Vocational Education for Economic Development”, Minister stated that the Vocational Education Week is a platform that allows us to share the best international experience and achievements in vocational education. It is a wonderful platform to share the existing news, discover new programs, and to evaluate the work done in this regard.

The Minister said that the theme of the Conference - "Investing in Human Capital" - best reflects the vision of the Georgian government for sustainable economic development of the country, as the Government of Georgia shares the idea that economic development is only attainable through a strong, modernized educational system.

That is why it is necessary to develop an innovative approach to increase stakeholder participation in vocational education, ways in which to encourage public and private partnerships, and in general to help both private and state educational institutions create vocational educational programs relevant to modern challenges.

"It is particularly noteworthy that within the week the society will get acquainted with the new programs that were created jointly by the Government of Georgia, the private sector and Millennium Challenge Corporation. These programs are planned in accordance with the labor market requirements and their existence is a step forward in Georgia, "said the Minister and underlined the support of American partners, who see the potential  and resourcesa of Georgi that will put the country in the ranks of leading economies.

At the end of the speech, the Minister wished success to all the participants of the conference and all the vocational education centers. Additionally, the minister wished success to the participants of the National Vocational Competition Award and congratulated the finalists who will be awarded on November 9^th.