Government Spokesman: President of the Republic’s Participation in UN General Assembly has Further Empowered Mauritanian Diplomacy

The participation of His Excellency the President of the Republic, Chairman of the African Union, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, in the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly last week allowed for further empowerment of Mauritanian diplomacy abroad and strengthened the position of Mauritania and the continent in the United Nations, said the Minister of Culture, Arts, Communication and Relations with Parliament, Government Spokesman, Mr Houssein Ould Medou, as His Excellency chaired a meeting on climate and another on epidemics in Africa.

Commenting on the results of the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening at the pronouncement hall of the Mauritanian News Agency, accompanied by the Ministers of Vocational Training, Handicrafts and Crafts, Mohamed Maalainine Ould Eyih, and Higher Education and Scientific Research, Yacoub Ould Moine, the Minister said that this participation is part of the dynamic witnessed by Mauritania, both at the level of the United Nations and at the level of the countries of the world, stressing that the visit that His Excellency the President of the Republic will perform in The coming days for a number of countries fall within this framework.

In response to a question about the results of the national campaign to secure flow and reduce traffic jams a month after its launch, the government spokesman explained that the first phase of this campaign, which was limited to the districts of Ksar and Tavragh Zeina in Nouakchott West, was successful and inspires optimism, as the plan made it possible to reduce traffic congestion in all road axes that were witnessing significant congestion even from outside the provinces of Ksar and Tavragh Zeina, and to liberate public squares and sidewalks, as well as contributed to Respect traffic lights.

He said that the ministerial committee in charge of the subject is working to establish centers to shelter trucks outside the heart of the city, praising the cooperation of citizens with this campaign.

He added that the evaluation carried out by a ministerial committee yesterday headed by the Prime Minister revealed that 5,800 violations were recorded in this area, half of which paid his bills, pointing out that the digital dimension that was introduced into the process contributed to its success, as road junctions are monitored with cameras, and bills are issued automatically without the presence of any security personnel.

Commenting on the statement on the opening of the 2024-2025 school year, Minister of Vocational Training, Handicrafts and Crafts Mohamed Maalainine Ould Eyih said that the sector, within the framework of governance, decided to establish a vocational training agency that will be entrusted with the development of the sector, and it was also decided to review access to vocational training institutions to improve competition.

He stressed that the current academic year will witness important measures to keep pace with the program of His Excellency the President of the Republic “My Ambition for the Nation”, as the absorptive capacity of vocational training institutions has been increased, which is now 21 institutions, including 20 public institutions and one of public benefit, in addition to 11 institutes for free vocational training.

He added that the absorptive capacity of vocational training institutions moved from 3,825 trainees in 2019-2020 to 13,781 trainees during the last year 2023-2024, thanks to the establishment of 4 institutions during the last five years, namely the Vocational Training Corporation in Riyadh, the New Technologies Foundation in Nouadhibou, the Oil, Gas and Minerals Corporation in Nouakchott, and the Vocational Training School in Akjoujt.

The Minister explained in numbers the extent of improvement in vocational training in recent years, as the number of vocational training graduates annually reached about 20,000 graduates, a noticeable increase, stressing that the sector will subscribe to 120 professors within the framework of working on the qualitative improvement of vocational training, as well as improving and encouraging teachers.

He added that the sector is preparing a well-performing school year that will pave the way for achieving the great goal set for vocational training over the next five years, which is to open training opportunities for 115,000 Mauritanian youth.

The Minister of Vocational Training said that during the academic year 2024-2025, the absorptive capacity of our vocational training system will be increased to reach 19,260 seats, including 11,065 in certificate training and 6,300 in qualifying training, which means an increase of 40% compared to the academic year 2023-2024, indicating that this will be done through the escalation of the performance of newly established institutions and the expansion of the capacity of existing institutions.

During the new school year, the sector will also build a school in Kiffa, one in Nouadhibou and another in Dar Naim, in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank, he said.

For his part, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Mr. Yacoub Ould Moine, commenting on the statement related to the preparation for the opening of the academic year 2024-2025, said that the government has decided to establish several institutions of higher education in the coming period, such as transforming the Translation Institute in Nouadhibou into a university starting next year, and working to transform the University of Islamic Laayoune into an open university, and a committee will be formed for this in cooperation with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.

He added that the Rosso Institute will be transformed into a higher institute for agriculture and biology and will have two schools (which will start working soon) in Kaedi and Nema in the field of agriculture and veterinary science, as well as a higher institute in Kiffa for commerce and business, and an institute for education professions in Tidjikja affiliated to the teachers’ school, in addition to working on the opening of a college of applied sciences in Nouakchott.

He said that the current academic year will also witness the opening of a school for business and commerce, where 200 students were directed, and the university vocational institute was converted into an institute of industrial engineering in cooperation with higher education institutions, some of which are external, and it received 200 students this year, and this year the specialization of artificial intelligence was introduced at the Higher Institute for Digitization, to which 250 students were directed.

The Minister stopped at increasing the absorptive capacity of several higher education institutions, especially the Higher School of Professors and the College of Medicine, as the first will witness the opening of the master’s and doctoral stages and eight new specialties to keep pace with the educational reforms accompanying the Republican School (providing a sufficient number of professors), while the College of Medicine witnessed the opening of new specialties in medicine and pharmacy.

The Minister stressed the transparency of the steering committee for those who passed the baccalaureate certificate this year to enter higher education institutions, as the committee set a threshold in the average for entering each institution, such as setting 14.47 for entering the Faculty of Medicine, and 13.2 for the Higher Institute for Digitization, stressing that the committee will study all the grievances it received, which did not exceed 4% of the directed students.