JEDDAH, 23 March 2005 — Pakistan has embarked on an ambitious program to train its workforce to meet the requirement of international market. Over the year 300,000 youths will be provided vocational training, according to Pakistani Minister for Labor, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, Ghulam Sarwar Khan.
He expressed hope that the number of Pakistani workers in Saudi Arabia would increase despite the ongoing Saudization campaign. The minister arrived here last night as part of a five-nation tour that will also take him to the UAE, Greece, Italy and Spain. He said he would address problems faced by overseas Pakistanis in a more pragmatic way than before.
Prudence, consistency and strict vigilance have brought positive results and institutions entrusted with welfare of overseas Pakistanis are being overhauled and would start reflecting the aspirations of overseas Pakistanis, he said.
By the end of June Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) will have 50 percent representation by overseas Pakistanis. Presently, only one overseas Pakistani is on the board of governors in OPF. He also announced that all academic institutions working under OPF have been instructed to reserve 50 percent seats for overseas Pakistanis and their admission criteria would be different from open merit system.
He said during the visit he would be interacting only with overseas Pakistanis in order to gain first-hand knowledge of their problems. He would be back in the Kingdom next month to meet with Saudi authorities to devise a strategy to solve their problems.
Sarwar was confident that Pakistan’s local bodies election would be held this year followed by general elections in 2007. He welcomed the ongoing dialogue process initiated by Pakistan People’s Party and said that there are contacts at the highest level and any rapprochement in this regard would cast positive impact on national politics.
