The Ministry of Interior (MoI) and its various departments are coping with the increasing needs of the country’s residents, said a senior official. Major General Saad al-Khulaifi, Director General of Border Security, said that several new recruitments were being made to improve efficiency at the ministry. Major General al-Khulaifi was speaking at a panel discussion held as part of the Forum on Labour Market Strategy, hosted by General Secretariat of Development Planning, yesterday. The official said that owing to the increasing pace of urban expansion, more police stations and other security centres were being opened in different areas. Disclosing that more than 900 women were working with various departments of MoI, the official said the ministry had women in almost all departments at present. “While it is true that the installation of advanced equipment in several areas has reduced the employment opportunities to some extent, the MoI is still unable to attract new staff owing to a number of reasons,” he said. “I strongly feel there is a major disparity in the packages offered to those working in the MoI when compared to some other departments.” The official differed with Qatar Statistical Authority (QSA) while stating that the country’s population would touch 2mn in a few months and not as posted by the QSA on its website. The QSA has put the figure at a little more than 1.64mn in its latest announcement. The MoI official said that more than 450 nationals were pursuing educational programmes in Europe and the US and they would return after completing education in their mission to strengthen the Qatar National Vision (QNV) 2030. Major General al-Khulaifi said there were at least 30,000 posts in the military but not many youngsters had evinced interest in joining the armed forces. Social Development Centre (SDC) official Amal al-Mannai highlighted the roles being played by vocational training programmes in empowering the country’s women. The SDC official did not find any wrong in using the services of expatriate women. Al-Mannai said as per the statistics of the Qatar Statistics Authority, more than 25% of the Qatari women stayed at home. Supreme Education Council’s (SEC) Higher Education Institute official Mohamed al-Mannai said the presence of a number of quality education institutions in the country would help reduce the students’ dependence on institutions abroad for pursuing education. Ministry of Trade and Business spokesperson Khalid al-Derbesti said the focus of the QNV 2030 should be on quality rather than quantity. The official said it was doubtful if the recruitment of nationals in large numbers in his ministry has really helped to raise the quality of work. President and general manager of ExxonMobil Qatar Alexander Dodds was the moderator. http://gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=297232&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

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