The government's intensified drive to place artisan development as the vital cog of economic growth strategy Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA) was last night further boosted when South Africa and South Korea committed to exchanging further expertise on empowering trade assessors.

Signed by Labour Department's acting Director-General Les Kettledas and his Korean counterpart Cho Jeong Ho at a ceremony in Pretoria, the letter of intent entails the Koreans tutoring South Africa's vocational trainers and assessors on the latest methods thereby drastically reducing the existing backlogs as the latter country accelerates the scarce and critical skills empowerment campaign.

Incidentally, President Kgalema Motlanthe had earlier yesterday signed into law the new Skills Development Amendment Act which is seen as critical for the Labour Department in removing all policy and learning pathway constraints to artisan development for a single integrated legislative framework.

The two countries signing ceremony had been preceded by intense discussions between delegates at the premises of South Africa's prime artisan assessment centre, the Institute of National Development for Learnership, Employment Skills and Labour Development (INDLELA).

The project marks the continuation of a working partnership between the two governments, dating back to 2000 when South Korea donated several trade testing machinery and vehicles to INDLELA, which was followed a year later by 45 South African assessors undergoing training in that country.