Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People’s Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, recently made important instructions on the good performance of Chinese players in 45th World Skills Competition and extended warm congratulations to them and those who are engaged in the training of skilled technical personnel.

Xi stressed that the quality of workers is crucial to the development of a country and a nation. He said that technical workers serve as an important foundation supporting made-in-China and created-in-China, and play a key role in high-quality economic growth. More efforts should be made to improve the system for training, employing, evaluating and motivating skilled workers, develop technical education, carry out vocational training on a large scale, and accelerate the training of a large number of high-quality workers and skilled technical personnel. He emphasized that, in the whole society, we should carry forward craftsmanship with the pursuit of excellence, and encourage the young generation to develop their skills to serve the country.

The biennial World Skills Competition is known as the Olympics of Skills. In August 2019, on the 45th World Skills Competition in Kazan, Russia, Chinese players won 16 gold, 14 silver, 5 bronze and 17 winning prizes, topping the gold medal tally, the medal tally and ranking first in total team score. The 46th World Skills Competition will be held in Shanghai in September 2021.