Investing in human resources boosts economic growth: Envoy

Economic growth will come about through investing in human resource and workforce, according to the Malaysian High Commission.
Head of chancery Muhd Irfan Zulkurnain said the country which invests in human capital would produce educated and skilled human resources which were healthy, productive and able to use that capital efficiently to contribute to economic progress.
Zulkurnain was speaking at a Malaysia Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) luncheon with senior officers from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Apec Secretariat in Port Moresby.
He said the MTCP offered technical training to participants from recipient countries.
MTCP said it strove to share Malaysia’s development experiences with other developing countries.
“The MTCP provides training in various areas which are essential for a country’s development such as public administration, good governance, health, education, sustainable development, agriculture, poverty alleviation, investment promotion, ICT and banking,” it said.
Zulkurnain said MTCP courses had evolved into a more specialised training programme to cater the specific needs of developing countries.
“This is in line with the ever changing global environment challenges which require nations to be more adaptable with the current trends”
Foreign Affairs bilateral relations division director-general Madam Maggie Moihe said PNG had been a recipient of MTCP since 1994.
She said more than 400 participants had benefited from the training.
“Capacity building is very important for our country, we appreciate the government and people of Malaysia for the support that the Malaysian government has given as an Apec economy,” she said.
“This is our first time to host Apec so assistance in capacity building goes a long way in enabling us to host Apec and learn from your experience.”
“It’s always important to identify those areas of need and train people in those areas so that we address some of the capacity issues that we have in PNG.”