64 officials to attend capacity programme in Japan

KABUL (Pajhwok): Sixty-four government officials would be sent to Japan in the near future to attend a capacity-building programme there, an official said on Wednesday.

Since 2011, 443 government officials have received master’s degrees in agriculture, engineering and social science in Japan.

Prof. Mohammad Usman Babari, deputy higher education minister, told a press conference in Kabul that 64 government officers would be sent to Japan in the near future to partake in a capacity-building course.

He said the officials to be sent to Japan currently worked on different government positions and 13 of them were public sector university lecturers.

Based on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Afghanistan and Japan, the programme would continue with little positive changes, he said, adding after the programme was completed, another 250 officials would pursue higher education based on Afghanistan’s requirements.

Japanese Ambassador to Kabul, Hiroshi Takahashi, who also participated in the press conference, called the programme as successful and said 443 Afghans had so far completed their higher education and had returned to their country.

“I believe Afghanistan’s future is depended on its youth, Japan is also depended on youth,” he said.

He hoped the 64 Afghan officials would be able to have sufficient improvement in their capacities and better serve their country after returning.

mds/ma