BATU PAHAT, Oct 18 — The Johor government will continue to create job opportunities for young people in the state in line with its target to be a developed state by 2030, said its Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.

He said to reduce the number of young people including graduates from migrating to other states to earn a living, the state government will collaborate with various quarters including the private sector to create job opportunities for its youths.

"The most worrying thing for us (the state government) in the effort to achieve the developed state status is (the lack of) skilled workers and we will remedy that,” he said, urging Johor youths to remain in the state to work together with the state government and the private sector to develop the state.

He said this in his speech at the launching ceremony of Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)’s 30th Anniversary Celebration and the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding between UTHM and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) on the National Artificial Intelligence Lab (AI Lab).

Also present were UTHM vice-chancellor Prof Ruzairi Abdul Rahim and UTM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Ahmad Fauzi Ismail.

The AI Lab is a collaborative effort involving UTHM, UTM, Huawei and Telekom Malaysia that seeks to develop digital talents in Malaysian universities.

Meanwhile, Ruzairi said the establishment of the AI Lab will allow UTHM to go full digital in terms of the teaching and learning session and the university’s administration which is currently being conducted in a hybrid manner. — Bernama