Dr. Watanaporn Ra-Ngubtook, Deputy Secretary General of the Education Council, including three government officials from the Office of Education Council (OEC), attended the 8th Regional Policy Dialogue on TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) and the 10th Annual Expert Meeting of the Initiative on Employment and Skills Strategies in Southeast Asia (ESSSA) in Vientiane, Lao PDR, 

during 20-22 November 2018.  The conference is cooperated by the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) of Lao PDR, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and 

the Deutsche Gesekkschaft für International Zusammennarbeit (GIZ). The key topic of this year is “Building skills and facilitating employment in rural areas of Southeast Asia” and significantly focuses on 

• Improvement of access to TVET and employment services;

• Advancement of employment promotion;

• Enhancement of the relevance of TVET such as policy, strategy and technology, etc.;

• Shape of employment services to the demand of specific groups and design and implementation of strategies for skills and employment in rural areas.  

Additionally, the conference also included knowledge and experience sharing by highlighting interesting researches and successful practices from different countries of Southeast Asia and other countries, namely: Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, Mongolia, Australia and Canada.