HRD Vital
for Fisheries Growth in BIMP-EAGA
JERUDONG, 08 November 2006,
Wednesday - More than 35 delegates from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia,
Malaysia and the Philippines who are responsible for human resources
development in the fisheries sector yesterday attended the 2nd Regional
Workshop on Human Resources Development (HRD) for Sustainable
Development in Fisheries in the Brunei
Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asian Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
The workshop, which is
hosted by the Fisheries Department at the Ministry of Industry and
Primary Resources, started yesterday and will continue until November 10
at the Holiday Lodge Hotel in Jerudong.
It was also attended by
representatives from Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC)
as the secretariat of the project; Asean Foundation and Islamic
Development Bank as the funding agencies; BIMP-EAGA Facilitation Centre;
and BIMP-EAGA Natural Resources Cluster Development (NRD) as an
observer.
The workshop is held in
line with the project launched by SEAFDEC in the year 2005 under a
project entitled Human Resources Development for Sustainable Development
in Fisheries in BIMP-EAGA.
It is supported by the
Asean Foundation through the Japan-Asean Solidarity Fund to enhance
human capacity, bridge the development gap and to promote the
exploitation of under-utilised resources in this region.
The project comprises three
main areas of human resources development in fisheries, namely marine
capture fisheries (sea-based), aquaculture and post-harvest technology
(land-based).
The project aims to develop
human resource capacity of the relevant government departments by
mobilising the existing sub-regional works and exchanging experiences
among the target countries in planning and conducting human resources
development activities, targeting SMEs in particular.
It is expected that after a
series of HRD activities, government staff would gradually develop their
skills in interpreting appropriate fisheries information when they
formulate activities to support SMEs in the fisheries sector and to
promote future sustainable fisheries development to meet their national
priorities.
The objectives of the
workshop are to discuss the outcomes and achievements of each activity,
identify future follow-up actions relating to human resources
development and to discuss lessons learned and policy recommendations.
Brunei Darussalam benefits
from the project through cooperation and network sharing within
BIMP-EAGA.
Present at the workshop was
Haji Abdul Halidi bin Mohd Salleh, Acting Director of the Fisheries
Department.
The workshop facilitators
from SEAFDEC are Dr Siri Ekmaharaj, Dr Yasuhisa Kato, Mr Suriyan
Vichitlekarn and Mr Somnuk Pornpatimakorn.
- Courtesy of
Borneo Bulletin -
