Canadian Foreign Minister: World Community Should Focus on Education

The pace of technological progress is growing and national governments should focus on educating the population instead of guessing where future jobs will be, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in Vietnam on Thursday.

DA NANG (Sputnik) — "Any government that believes that it knows where the jobs of future will be is living in some outmoded world of… central planning. That didn't work," she said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Da Nang.

But she outlined several areas where governments should focus to be better prepared for changes to come in the labor market, including efforts to create a friendly environment for entrepreneurs to attract talent from all over the world.

"We have to educate Canadians so they can figure out for themselves what the jobs of the future are," Freeland said. "The single skill we need to teach… we need to give people the tools to be adaptable."

She pointed to Canada, which she said was striving to get the edge over competitors by becoming the "most exciting, the most friendly country" for entrepreneurs.

"The world is full of brilliant people and I think brilliant people like to be close to other brilliant people," Freeland noted.

Vietnam is hosting the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week on November 6-11, bringing together high-level delegates from member states. All 21 APEC leaders are expected to participate in the summit, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.