Tolland, CT – CNC Software, Inc., the developer of Mastercam, the world's most popular and dynamic CAD/CAM system, announces that a partnership agreement was signed on October 22, 2015 between the authorized distributor of Mastercam in Eurasian Customs Union (Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan), COLLA, Ltd (based in Russia) and the Republican Institute of Vocational Education, as the Official Operator of WorldSkills Belarus (www.worldskills.by).

The Republic of Belarus joined WorldSkills International in January 2014, becoming the 68^th member of this movement, the mission of which is to rise the status and standards of professional skills and vocational education worldwide, while the task is to organize international competition in professional craftsmanship.

"WorldSkills Belarus and COLLA, Ltd. have established a successful partnership in providing conditions for learning the functionality of Mastercam by experts and students from a number of educational institutions of The Republic of Belarus shortly before WorldSkills Open Championship of Russia and Championship of CIS, which took place in Kazan in May 2015, and WorldSkills Championship held in São Paulo, Brazil, in August 2015," says Yevgeny Dudukin, Mastercam support and training manager at COLLA, Ltd.

"Within the partnership agreement, Mastercam academic licences will be provided to the operator of WorldSkills Belarus in a quantity sufficient for holding the competition. Periodic consultations, our expertise, training courses, and technical support will be provided as well to help Belarus prepare its own Mastercam programming experts and trainers," says Vladimir Vorzhakov, technical director of COLLA, Ltd.

"The participation of The Republic of Belarus in WorldSkills International activities gives them access to a unique experience; to impartially evaluate the level of competence of young specialists, facilitate increased motivation for personal and professional development among young people, and harmonize its qualification requirements with an international standard," notes Youri Soukhanov, president of COLLA Group companies and editor-in-chief of CAD/CAM/CAE Observer magazine.

“Tight cooperation between WorldSkills Belarus and COLLA opens up for the creation of vocational education systems, wide opportunities for the renovation of the content of its educational standards and for preparation of the skilled workforces for the hi-tech industry,” says professor Arkady Shklyar, rector of the Republican Institute of Vocational Education (www.ripo.unibel.by ).

CNC Software is active in this competition at a grassroots level, helping the contestants around the world with software to prepare for the event. This is done in conjunction with the local Mastercam Resellers to get them involved with future engineers and machinists.

The WorldSkills International competition is held every 2 years and the next competition is October 14-19, 2017 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. For more information on WorldSkills, please visit www.worldskills.org.