Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Tourism, Youth and Environment Fikri Ataoğlu and Labour and Social Security Minister Hasan Taçoy paid a visit to the Hotel Management Tourism Training Centre on Wednesday.

During the visit Prime Minister Ünal Üstel emphasized that the government will do its best to enable young people to contribute to the country’s economy.

Prime Minister Ünal Üstel visited the Hotel Management Tourism Training Centre (OTEM), which operates under the Ministry of Tourism, in Girne.

During his visit, Üstel was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Tourism Youth and Environment Fikri Ataoğlu and Minister of Labour and Social Security Hasan Taçoy.

Deputy Prime Minister Fikri Ataoğlu informed the premier regarding the activities at the Centre.

He also said that it was their aim to train intermediate staff and pave the way for the tourism sector to further develop.

The Minister of Labour and Social Security Hasan Taçoy for his part noted that the tourism sector was the developing sector in the country and therefore after consultations with Minister Ataoğlu they had re-activated the Hotel Management Tourism Training Centre.

Prime Minister Ünal Üstel also said a few words during the visit.

He stated that the government had broken new ground and that they had re-activated OTEM, which had been closed for some time.

“The leading sector of our country is tourism and we want our youth to be able to contribute to the economy. Currently we have a capacity of 26 thousand beds in the country. Our target is 50 thousand” said Üstel and noted that although there are only 26 thousand beds, qualified personnel were being sought from third world countries as there is a deficiency in the sector.

“We want our young people to serve at their own country at their own facilities” said Üstel and added that as the government they will do all they can in order to provide the necessary means for the youth to be able to set up and establish themselves in their own country.