OECD Skills Summit

Since 2016, the OECD has organised biennial OECD Skills Summits together with host countries. OECD Skills Summits provide ministers and senior officials with an opportunity to learn from each other’s’ experience in designing and implementing skills policy reforms, as well as to discuss how to best elevate skills policy on the public policy agenda.

Türkiye will host the OECD Skills Summit 2026 “Unlocking Talent Across Generations” on 27-28 April 2026 in Istanbul. The Summit will bring together ministers and senior officials from diverse countries and ministries - education, vocational and technical education, higher education and research, skills and training, labour and employment, economy and innovation, and others - to learn from each other’s experience in designing and implementing skills policies to unlock talent across generations.

During the two-day event, participants will engage in discussions on i) rethinking formal education; ii) harnessing adults’ skills; iii) tapping into hidden talent.  

The OECD Skills Summit 2026 will be conducted in the format of a ministerial ‘retreat’, featuring formal interventions, keynote addresses by distinguished international speakers, bilateral meetings, side events and site visits. Discussions will be held under the “Chatham House Rule”, designed to foster candid and open exchanges, raise challenging questions, offer concrete policy examples, and highlight the OECD’s latest analysis on skills.

Participation is by invitation only.

Monday 27 April 2026, 14:00 CEST (15:00 Istanbul)

Distinguished speakers:

H.E. Prof. Dr. Vedat IŞIKHAN, Minister of Labour and Social Security of the Republic of Türkiye

Mr. Mathias CORMANN, OECD Secretary-General

H.E. Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN, President of the Republic of Türkiye

• Agenda
• Issues Paper (en français)

Visit the event website

For further information contact: OECDCentre4Skills@oecd.org

The OECD Skills Summit 2026 will build on findings from previous OECD Skills Summits in Norway (2016), Portugal (2018), Slovenia (2020),  Colombia (2022) and Belgium (2024). These summits covered the themes of “Skills for a digital world” (2018), “Skills Strategies for a world in recovery” (2020),  “Strengthening skills for equity and sustainability” (2022)  “Skills for the Future” (2024).

The 5th OECD Skills Summit was organised by the Government of Belgium, its Regions and Communities and the OECD on the topic of “Skills for the future: Building bridges to new opportunities”.

It brought together ministers and senior officials with responsibilities for diverse skills-relevant portfolios from 36 countries and 8 international and regional organisations. 

• Agenda (en français)
• Issues for discussion paper (en français)
• Presentations
  • Jo Brouns, Flemish Minister for Economy, Innovation, Work, Social Economy and Agriculture
  • Mathias Cormann, OECD Secretary-General
  • Shravan-Goli, Chief Operating Officer of Coursera
  • Mia Seppo, Assistant Director-General for the Jobs and Social Protection Cluster, International Labour Organization (ILO)
  • Mona Laroussi, Director of the Institute of the Francophonie for Education and TVET (IFEF)
  • Stefano Scarpetta, Director, OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs
  • Andreas Schleicher, Director, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills
• Joint Summary (en français)

Watch the official opening of the OECD Skills Summit 2024.

Watch the aftermovie.

Visit the event website, hosted by Belgium.

For further information contact: OECDCentre4Skills@oecd.org

The 4th OECD Skills Summit was organised by the Government of Colombia and the OECD on the topic of “Strengthening Skills for Equity and Sustainability – Providing Effective Up-and reskilling Opportunities for All” . It brought together ministers and senior officials with responsibilities for diverse skills-relevant portfolios from 39 countries, from the OECD and beyond, as well as representatives from 9 international and regional organisations. It was the first Skills Summit held in Colombia, and the first Skills Summit in Latin America.

• Annotated agenda (English)
• Issues paper (English/French/Spanish)
• Joint summary (English/French/Spanish)
• Video
• Presentations
  • Mathias Cormann, OECD Secretary-General
  • Stefano Scarpetta, Director, OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs
  • Andreas Schleicher, Director, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills

The virtual event in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic brought together ministers, senior officials and delegates from 36 countries, the European Commission, Council of Europe, UNESCO, BIAC, and TUAC. 

Discussions focused on countries’ lifelong learning and skills use policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis, the relevance of skills in the context of megatrends, and the role of skills in ensuring better health outcomes and higher levels of well-being for all.

• Agenda
• Issues for discussion paper
• Joint Summary

The event brought together 23 ministers, deputy ministers, state secretaries and deputy state secretaries from 22 countries as well as representatives of the European Commission to discuss the implications of the digital transformation for the skills people need as well as for skills policy.

• Agenda
• Issues for discussion paper
• Press release
• Joint summary

The first OECD Skills Summit brought together 24 ministers, state secretaries and senior officials representing a range of skills-relevant portfolios from 15 countries, plus 2 EU Commissioners.

Participants discussed and recognised the importance of skills for productivity, innovation and inclusive growth; shared experiences with building effective, forward-looking, whole-of-government approaches to skills policies; and agreed on the need to build more flexible and resilient skills systems.

• Agenda
• Issues for discussion paper
• Chair's summary