The UAE capital was skilfully represented in Brazil this week, as the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau attended the largest vocational education and skills excellence event in the world.

The World Skills Competition is an event held every two years, where hundreds of young skilled people, accompanied by their teachers and trainers, gather together from around the world to compete before the public in the skills of their various trades and test themselves against demanding international standards.

Over its 60-year history, World Skills International, which was formerly known as the Skill Olympics, has come to symbolise the pinnacle of excellence in vocational training.

The competitors represent the best of their peers drawn from regional and national skill competitions held currently in 52 countries and regions, with World Skills 2015 taking place in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo from 11th till 16th Aug.

The emirate is represented at the 43rd edition of this event by Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau in Sao Paulo's Anhembi Parque, with its stand organised in collaboration with its partners Abu Dhabi Centre for Technical and Vocational Education & Training (ACTVET), EmiratesSkills, WorldSkills and the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC).

"Through different thematic areas of the stand, visitors will immerse themselves in a virtual journey across the main attractions of Abu Dhabi," said Mubarak Al Shamisi, Director Abu Dhabi Conventions Bureau, a division of Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi). "The space is organised as a labyrinth or a path, where guests are guided from the main entrance to visit 'locations': desert, sea, entertainment parks, a souq, a majlis and cultural sightseeing.

"Each space will feature specific activities that will engage visitors in a multisensory experience. Interactive and stimulating, the stand main aim is to entertain visitors and raise awareness of the destination," he added.

And the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau has even more reason to be at the event, as it also won the right to host the next event, the World Skills 2017 Competition, the first time the event will have been held in the MENA region.

With this edition expected to attract a record number of participants, surpassing the previous record set in 2013 in Leipzig, Germany, where almost 1,000 participants from 53 countries and regions competed for medals in 46 skills, Abu Dhabi's ambition is to attract even more, with 7,000 registered participants the target for the 44th edition.
Source: WAM