Nicole Malpas, programme manager at European Union; Devi Prasad Dahal, project manager of SkillFUL; and Salima Ahmad, founder president of Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI), attend a training fair jointly organised by Skillful and BWCCI in the capital yesterday. Photo: Skillful

Industries Minister Dilip Barua yesterday urged the private sector to invest more in training to augment the quality of the workforce.
“We have a lack of skilled manpower,” said Barua, while advocating the introduction of training for increased productivity.
He emphasised women's training, as it will go some way towards women's empowerment in the country.
The government allocated Tk 100 crore in fiscal 2012-13's budget for the development of women entrepreneurs, according to Barua.
“Women entrepreneurs will help Bangladesh become a middle-income country soon, in line with the vision 2021,” Barua said, adding the participation of woman in economic activities is gradually increasing.
Barua's comments came at the inauguration ceremony of the training fair, organised by Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI) and Skillful, a project of European Union (EU) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, at the Diploma Engineering Institute.
The fair is an opportunity for training service providers to exhibit their ability to produce quality skilled workers as per the needs of the industry.
“We should give training to the unskilled people to enable them to be gainfully employed,” said Salima Ahmed, founder president of BWCCI.
She urged the government to dedicate a desk in the industries ministry for the purpose of matching skilled workers to relevant employers.
BWCCI's President Sangita Ahmed said the organisation is working to develop skills of women in a bid to empower them.
In Bangladesh, around 49.5 million labour work in both formal and informal sectors, and about 88 percent of the workers are employed in the informal economy, said Nicole Malpas, programme manager of EU.
“Training labour is not a cost but an investment,” she said.