KUWAIT, April 22 (KUNA) -- A Kuwaiti oil official stressed the importance of dispatching young Kuwaitis for scholarships abroad to the creation of a national workforce able to administer the country's vast oil wealth.

"Companies which operate under the umbrella of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) assist in the field of education, through the dispatch of students abroad, the formation of local scientific research centres and the rehabilitation of national teaching standards," Kuwait Gulf Oil Company's (KGOC) Board Chairman and Managing Director Hisham Al-Rifai told KUNA.

Al-Rifai made the comment during his attendance of the Kuwait Energy and Community Forum, and said that the event was discussing KPC's role in funding foreign-based scholarships for the national workforce.

The event groups experts on oil from Kuwait and Arab Gulf states, in addition to others from Kuwait University and UNESCO, and will focus on creating a generation that is sustainable and is able to carry out achievements and accomplishments that will push forward the wheels of development.

Al-Rifai said that he himself had been dispatched on a scholarship to the United States by the Arabian Gulf Oil Company - a Japanese company that was operating in Kuwait at the time. He was confident that Kuwaiti youth would be given a chance, like himself, to receive education in the field at advanced industrial nations.

"The responsibility, after that, lies on the society - in huge efforts carried out by oil companies towards the healthcare, education, environment and cultural sectors. It is our social responsibility to focus on education, as it is 'the tractor' that leads state institutions to development and growth," he added.

For his part, KGOC's Deputy Board Chairman and Deputy Managing Director for Financial and Administrative Affairs Dr. Mohammed Al-Ramadan said that the event was aimed at spreading awareness on oil sector affairs amid the public and at advocating local educational institutions, both financially and morally.

He expressed the view that educating the public on the science of oil should be encouraged at an early age - as early as primary level - and that this should be enhanced all the way up to high school.

KGOC, he said, has many contributions to education, through the organisation of lectures on the field, across local universities, colleges and schools in addition to arranging field visits to the company's headquarters.

In the forum's second session, Chairman of the Kuwait Teachers' Association Metab Al-Otaibi urged the need for a "social partnership" between state institutions, including KOC, which would have a positive role on education.

The event was held under the patronage of Oil Minister Hani Hussain and was chaired by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation's Board Chairman and Managing Director for Government, Parliament and Public Affairs Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah.