A Pacific skills portal will be established in the coming months.

This was one of the major outcomes and actionable measures to come out of the Pacific Skills Summit which concluded yesterday.

One of the key partners in the Summit was the Australia Pacific Training Coalition, Board Chair Kaye Schofield says there is a need to have better collaboration in what is a critical area for the region.

“One particularly important action is progressing the Pacific Skills Portal which will be a data platform that allows a regional collaboration to make available to all the region labour market information and skills analysis and skills audit information so that is probably one of the more immediate and tangible outcomes that we can start straight away.”

The two day summit also opened up a space for the private sector with the Pacific Islands Private Sector Organization also involved as key partner.

PIPSO CEO Alisi Tuqa says there is a need to ensure more private sector partnership to better understand the skills gap and where the future jobs will be.

She says as a result of the deliberations, there can be some serious conversations going forward about investment and where organizations need to prioritize.

Other key discussions focused on education systems and how across the Pacific there needs to be a change, that looks at how children can learn as opposed to what they should learn.

Tuvalu is expected to keep the momentum of the summit going as the host of the next Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meeting in August with the inaugural event spearheaded by President of Nauru and outgoing Forum Chair Baron Waqa.