Karim Shakouri, TWI's Azerbaijan country manager was delighted to attend an official ceremony at Gobustan Regional Training and Education Centre in Baku. This centre of excellence will now deliver competency training to SOCAR's welders and inspectors, as well as external personnel in the oil and gas sector and is a collaboration between SOCAR, State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, and TWI.
This timely initiative is in response to the increase in new projects in the oil and gas sector, such as Shah Denize No II and the OGPC project, where the demand for manpower is expected to be in the region of 15,000 personnel. The news comes with the increased awareness of the country's policy of recruiting local manpower and expertise.
After the opening ceremony, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said that: "the specialised workers will be recruited to work at the major oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan".
SOCAR's vocational education centres play a crucial role in the development of the oil and gas industry in Azerbaijan, and their efforts have been highly appreciated by BP's Regional President for Azerbaijan, Gordon Birrell, and Azerbaijan's Education Minister Mikayil Jabbarov, who formally recognised their contributions in the opening ceremony. Students at the unrivalled Gobustan Regional Training and Education Centre will benefit from its unique, state-of-the-art equipment that utilises the latest technologies in the world. The Centre offers a diverse range of courses and has a capacity for up to 800 students.
Farshid Alizadeh, TWI's regional manager for Central Asia and Karim Shakouri were officially introduced to the SOCAR and BP (Azerbaijan) presidents at the ceremony as the key partners in delivering welding, non-destructive testing (NDT) and inspection training. Having received accredited training from TWI, students can then go on to achieve the internationally recognised CSWIP (Certification Scheme for Personnel) certifications. The Centre launched its first courses on 1 November, 2013.
The Centre operates under Fuad Suleymanov, Chief of Training, Education and Certification Department of SOCAR, and his team.
Find out more about SOCAR. For any further enquiries or to book a course, please contact Karim Shakouri of TWI Azerbaijan.
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