Abu Dhabi is targeting a record 7,000 registered participants for the 44th edition of World Skills, the largest vocational education and skills excellence event in the world, when it will be held in the UAE capital in 2017.

Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau, which has won the right to host the World Skills 2017 Competition, the first time the event will have been held in the Mena region, took part this week in World Skills 2015 taking place in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo from August 11 to 16.

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.

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.

This edition is 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. – TradeArabia News Service