Thousands of people will be able to attend new training courses launched by the Employment and Training Corporation using €5.3 million in EU funds.

Some 21,000 people are expected to attend the 200 new courses which will be organised over the next three years at the Ħal Far-based corporation.

Corporation chairman Sandra Sladden said the courses range from very basic training for people with limited skills to more in-depth courses and retraining for those who already have a job. Speaking during the launch of the courses and an EU-funded €600,000 extension to the corporation's training centre, Social Policy Minister John Dalli said workers needed to increase their productivity for Malta to reach the obligations imposed by Lisbon Agenda.

A recent report said the island needed to increase its workforce by 70,000 by 2015 to meet these obligations. But Mr Dalli said this did not have to mean employing another 70,000 people but increasing productivity.

"We need to focus on the productivity of workers rather than numbers," he said.