MAURITIUS has pledged to provide support to Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) in the textile and tourism industry for the country to tremendously benefit from the two sectors.

Mauritian Minister for Industry, Commerce and Consumer Protection, Mr Cader Sayed Hossen, said on Tuesday that his country would be providing training for VETA's teaching staff and that through the collaboration, students could also carry out their internship in Mauritius."We will be collaborating with VETA by providing the teaching staff with training from undergraduate to postgraduate levels," said the minister while addressing the authority's management at the VETA headquarters in Dar es Salaam.

He said he was pleased with VETA's structure and programmes offered by the institution and that textile industries in Mauritius would be happy to work with Tanzanians to improve production.VETA Training Director, Ms Leah Lukindo, said the textile and clothing industry has huge potential in ensuring the country's economic growth and that collaboration with Mauritius would help the industry realize its true potential.

"Despite being one of the great producers in cotton, the industry is far from realizing its true potential thus failing to compete in the global market and even with regional competitors like Congo and South Africa," she noted.She said that shortage of skilled labour in the domestic market makes it more difficult to attract meaningful investors in the industry.

VETA's Director General, Mr Zebadiah Moshi, thanked the minister for accepting the proposal to work together in the area of textile and tourism because the collaboration would boost the two industries."The programme would help us learn from your experiences and from the successes industries in Mauritius have achieved in the two areas," he said.