The upcoming Sharjah National Career Exhibition is set to offer the private sector a popular platform to assist the government in helping integrate UAE nationals into the country’s workforce, its organisers have said.
The exhibition assumes greater significance this time in view of a slew of government measures aimed at encouraging more Emiratis to take up jobs in the private sector.
Held under the patronage of His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, the 17th National Career Exhibition will be hosted by Expo Centre Sharjah from February 11th to 13th.
The highlights of the exhibition were announced at a press conference held at Expo Centre Sharjah on Monday.
Explaining the focus of the exhibition at a press conference yesterday, Saif Mohammed Al Midfa, CEO of Expo Centre Sharjah, said the primary aim of the show is to promote and enhance the integration of national manpower into the country’s workforce, and in the process help assist the government in its Emiratisation efforts.
"As in the past edition, there will be a special focus area on insurance this time. With the authorities working towards increasing the Emirati workforce in the insurance industry, we are expecting more participants from this sector," said Midfa.
He added that the government is moving to increase the UAE workforce in the insurance industry to 15 percent this year from the last year’s 8.9 percent. Among other measures, the government has proposed amendments to its labour laws to make the private sector more attractive for UAE nationals.
Other initiatives also include the mandatory national service, and a proposed Emiratisation Council that will set long-term policies on the integration of citizens into the country’s workforce. These initiatives are among several of the government’s plans to increase the number of its citizens employed in the private sector tenfold by 2021.
"Sharjah has been laying special emphasis on providing job opportunities to national graduates. The recently announced Sharjah budget is aiming to provide a thousand jobs for Emiratis in government bodies with an aim to increase Emiratisation and provide employment for new graduates," said Tareq Bin Khadem, Member of the Sharjah Executive Council and Chairman of the Directorate of Human Resources, Government of Sharjah.
He added that most often a lack of awareness about opportunities is holding back Emiratis from joining the private sector, and the National Career Exhibition will be an ideal place for them to check out what a career in the private sector can offer them.
Highlighting the role of the Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies, (EIBFS), in paving the career path of UAE nationals in banking and financial organisations, Jamal Al Jasmi, General Manager of the EIBFS said, "EIBFS has been delivering world-class training at its three campuses in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and contributing in a big way to the Emiratisation initiative. We want to see them as the finance industry’s future leaders" The UAE Armed Forces will continue to be the Platinum Sponsor of the exhibition, and will have one of the biggest stalls representing all its wings suxch as the Army, Air Force, Air Defence, Navy and Presidential Guard.
The Armed Forces stall will be of great importance to visiting students and graduates given that the recently announced draft strategy for national service shows that the initiative will speed up the Emiratisation drive in the country.
The show will feature most of the leading foreign and local banks, insurance firms, money exchanges, free zones and financial consultants.
Several local and federal government bodies too will have an impressive presence at the show.Leading lenders in the country such as Sharjah Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai and National Bank of Abu Dhabi are Gold Sponsors.
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