A/67/310 III. International and regional political commitments to promote technical and vocational education 12. At the international level, promotion of technical and vocational education and training includes fulfilling both the Education for All (EFA) agenda and the Millennium Development Goals. At the World Education Forum (2000), it was acknowledged that youth and adults are often denied access to skills and knowledge necessary for gainful employment. Meeting “basic learning needs”, as defined by the World Conference on Education for All (1990) and emphasized by the EFA agenda, 11 is closely related to the promotion of technical and vocational education and training. Accordingly, the forthcoming EFA Global Monitoring Report will examine more extensively the EFA agenda in relation to youth and skill development. 13. The United Nations Millennium Declaration (2000) and the accompanying Millennium Development Goals provide a global agenda for reducing poverty and improving lives, including through the promotion of access to education. Millennium Development Goal 2, to achieve universal primary education, is an enabling factor for technical and vocational education and training. Millennium Development Goal 3, to promote gender equality and empower women, is relevant for technical and vocational education and training, namely, to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, and in all levels of education no later than 2015. 14. The central role of education in accelerating progress towards all Millennium Development Goals was recognized by the General Assembly in the context of the High-level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals in 2010 (resolution 65/1, para. 71 (c)). Technical and vocational education and training is often regarded as a powerful tool in poverty reduction and development strategies, as it provides individuals with the requisite qualifications and skills to enable them to contribute to various sectors of the economy. “TVET is extremely suitable for contributing to national socioeconomic development and meeting the Millennium Development Goals through human resources development. When TVET curricula are focused on creating ‘job-creators’ (self-employed workers) rather than ‘jobseekers’, unemployment in developing countries can be reduced, thereby allowing developing countries to get closer to meeting the MDGs”. 12 15. A number of other recent international meetings have further underlined the importance of technical and vocational education and training today. The Ministerial Declaration of the High-level Segment of the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council in 2011 recognized that “Education and training should contribute to sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth by developing requisite skills, in line with the labour market requirements and development needs of countries, taking into account the importance of gender equality and the empowerment of women in promoting sustainable development”. 13 It also underlined the importance of “Encouraging the provision and mainstreaming of __________________ 11 12 13 6 The sixth goal of Education for All is “Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills”. NICHE, Strategy on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (2010), p. 3. E/2011/L.28, para. 9 (a). 12-46486