Qingdao launches vocational training programs to spur industrial transformation

Qingdao City of east China's Shandong Province has officially launched a new round of apprenticeship training programs to build a technical talent pool this year, in efforts to support industrial development.

China reportedly faces a shortfall of 20 million in skilled talent population. Against this background, Qingdao, as an eastern industrial port city, is striving to build itself into a "craftsman city." With a complete industrial chain and a large number of manufacturing factories, the city has taken the training of technicians in demand as an important task.

The Qingdao Technician College is a key part of this task. Its students are trained at the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) factory.

Zhang Guangjun, a student majoring in welding technology at the college, recently won the first place in the robot welding technology project of the Qingdao vocational skills competition. "This honor has made me more determined to become an excellent craftsman. My goal is to become a CRRC welding engineer like my teacher," said Zhang.

"I'm now mainly responsible for the robot welding course. Through the competition, it also proves that our teaching is effective," said Liang Kaiqiang, a teacher at the college.

"According to the 2025 skilled talent demand report released by the Qingdao Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, more than 100 job types have been included in the vocational skills training catalog, and welders are marked as urgently needed talents. We have formulated policies for industrial training and school training to ensure the supply and demand of talents. Qingdao hopes that through these efforts, more people can find employment, and train the technical talents that factories really need," said Liu Xuejun, director of the Qingdao Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security.

According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, starting from 2025, for three consecutive years, more than 10 million people will be eligible for subsidized vocational skills training each year. Great craftsmen are not only inheritors of vocational skills but also an important part of national development.

Qingdao launches vocational training programs to spur industrial transformation

Two major Qatari energy facilities shut down operations after being damaged during Iran's strikes targeting the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday, adding that the situation had been contained.

QatarEnergy announced on Monday that it had suspended liquefied natural gas (LNG) production following attacks on two of its energy facilities, and on Tuesday said it was suspending production of downstream natural gas products such as urea and methanol.

The shutdown sent gas prices skyrocketing on global energy markets, provoking fears of an energy crisis sparked by the conflict in the Middle East.

Speaking during his weekly press conference, Al-Ansari said that the decision to shut down the facilities was taken as a precaution, to ensure the safety of personnel and infrastructure after the strike damaged key production and processing sites.

"The damage was contained and now the operations to assess, technically, the safety of the facilities is underway. And from the defensive posture, as you have seen, we have been ready in monitoring and dealing with all of these attacks," he said.

Al-Ansari said that Qatar is committed to de-escalating the situation, and added that Qatar had not had any contact with Iran since Feb 28.

"Qatar's diplomatic stance has always been firm and clear: committed to peace, actively promoting de-escalation, advocating dialogue and consultation, and striving to resolve the conflict peacefully," he said.

Major Qatari energy facilities damaged in Iranian strikes: foreign ministry