Policymakers explore alignment between vocational education, industry needs at Tianjin conference

Government officials, experts and educators from more than 100 countries and regions have gathered in north China's Tianjin Municipality for the World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference 2026 to explore how countries can work together to prepare skilled workers for the future as technology transforms industries and reshapes the job market.

The three-day event is co-hosted by China's Ministry of Education, the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO and the Tianjin municipal government. It is dedicated to charting the future of vocational and technical education, with this year's edition centered on embracing change and forging common standards in the field.

At the event's opening ceremony on Friday, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang stressed the importance of vocational education in boosting productivity and put forward four suggestions to strengthen international cooperation and advance its development.

He called on all parties to build common standards to guide open cooperation, drive transformation and upgrading through innovation and reform, promote people's all-round development through fairness and inclusiveness, and strengthen ties of friendship through mutual learning and cooperation.

Beyond the Chinese voices, many of the international ministerial-level attendees took the floor to advocate closer people-to-people exchange and the sharing of knowledge and best practices.

"I have brought a proposal in my speech that China would establish a world TVET (technical and vocational education and training) council, so that all the member countries would be getting the benefit from this council," said Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. "We benefit a lot if we learn from each other. With all the changes that we are facing in many dimensions, it is also very challenging for the education systems to adapt and to find effective ways for students to learn," said Fernando Alexandre, Portuguese Minister of Education, Science and Innovation.

Policymakers explore alignment between vocational education, industry needs at Tianjin conference

The China International Import Expo (CIIE) offers foreign companies a key trade platform to showcase their products and expand sales in China, a business leader has said, noting that many Portuguese companies are keen to participate again this year. In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Bernardo Mendia, secretary-general of the Portugal-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the chamber promotes the CIIE widely in Portugal through its online platforms and at physical events held every year. "I'm aware that many Portuguese companies will participate. We as China-Portugal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we promote widely in Portugal through all our online platforms. We also organize every year, we try to organize or at least participate in a physical event in Portugal to promote China International Import Fair. And the AICEP, which is the Portuguese investment agency, every year they organize a group of Portuguese companies and they themselves are present there with their own booth," Mendia said.

"I believe this year will not be an exception, and so they will participate again. It's a quite relevant participation. We understand that this has a lot of interest for our companies, because it's a trade exhibition that is for foreign entities to showcase their products and make sales in China. So it's precisely what we need to do more, so it's perfect. And we are very happy that China is still continuing to organize and put so much importance in this exhibition in Shanghai," he said.

The ninth CIIE will be held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10. Launched in 2018 as the world's first national-level expo dedicated to imports, the CIIE was designed to expand China's opening-up and turn its vast market into a shared opportunity for the world.

China's import expo offers foreign companies key platform to showcase products: chamber head