Education Minister Dr Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi opened today the first National Skills Competition, hosted by Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Institute of Technology, with the participation of 82 contestants from public and private sectors and an arbitration panel of 66 experts . He got updated about the participants\' projects in welding, web design, graphic design technology, mobile robots, cars, office applications, computer networks, and electricity. The Education Minister underlined the importance of the competition in choosing the team which will take part in the 3rd GCC Skills Competition that will be held in Bahrain from March 8 to 17, 2013. He also stressed the role of such competitions in improving vocational competence and upgrading technical education.