Brussels, 12/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - EU education ministers, together with those from Bulgaria and Romania invited as observers met up on 12-13 July in London for an informal meeting on the theme of vocational training. The “Skills for Europe - Building a Knowledge Society” conference was chaired by British secretary of state for education Ruth Kelly and attended by European Commissioner Jan Figel. On 12 July, ministers discussed vocational skills and employer participation in the vocational training process. They also discussed the European Commission proposal on “The European Qualifications Framework”. 13 July, ministers are expected to examine, with the ETUC and Unice, skills and productivity, as part of the revised Lisbon objectives and to attempt to establish some orientation guidelines for possible collaboration in this area. The United Kingdom assumes the presidency of the Council whereas education policy requires the European Union a fundamental reorientation on priorities, so as not to miss the rendezvous agreed on by Lisbon, declared Ms Kelly. According to the latter, better training of workers and skilled workers is a sine qua non priority for Europe being able to respond to the threats from the emerging Chinese and Indian economies. She promised that during the six months of the British presidency, she would work with European counterparts to better identify the loopholes that exist in the different education and training systems in Europe in view of establishing elements for partnerships and appropriate responses for employers. Commissioner Figel congratulated the British presidency for its interest in quality vocational training, which with the university constitutes the two axes of the policy for improving the situation in Europe. He underlined that these issues were decisive for developing European competitiveness and its social and cultural future, which required political awareness. EUROPE will be returning in more detail to this informal meeting.