Pakistan to train workers for KSA jobs boom

Pakistani laborer work at a construction site in Peshawar on April 30, 2018. (AFP)

• Ministry working with Saudi officials to meet demand from Vision 2030 overhaul

KARACHI: Pakistan is hoping to benefit from Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 initiative — the ambitious economic reform program expected to create millions of jobs in the Kingdom — by building its workforce’s professional skills, a top Pakistani official told Arab News on Tuesday.
“I have already directed my ministry to identify the economic sectors at the heart of the Saudi initiative along with the skillsets required to capture the greatest number of emerging employment opportunities,” Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, special adviser to the prime minister on overseas Pakistanis, told Arab News.
The Vision 2030 program was launched by the Kingdom to reduce its dependence on oil by diversifying the economy and turning the country into a global industrial hub.
Saudi authorities are investing $320 billion to develop the Kingdom’s non-oil sector, including a string of mega-projects and “smart cities” offering inhabitants further innovation in their respective fields.
Bukhari said that his ministry will coordinate with Pakistan’s National Vocational and Technical Training Commission and relevant Saudi organizations on “mutual skill recognition” to utilize future demand.
The ministry is working with Saudi officials to develop a standardized labor contract for Pakistani nationals, he added.
Saudi Arabia is home to over 2 million Pakistani migrants and is the single largest remittance source to the South Asian nation.
Pakistani expatriates in the Kingdom sent home $5.7 billion between July-March 2021, supporting the country’s balance of payments and ensuring stable foreign reserves.
In an interview with Pakistan’s state-owned news channel on Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan praised the role of Pakistani expatriates in the development and progress of his country.
“We have a very ambitious plan, Vision 2030,” he said. “Under that plan, we expect to grow significantly the employment base in the Kingdom. That means, of course, that there will be significant opportunities for additional employment for Pakistani nationals.”
The Saudi foreign minister invited the Pakistani business community to benefit from the emerging investment opportunities in the Kingdom.
“We also hope that Pakistani businesses will continue to increase their investment in the Kingdom because there are some very successful entrepreneurs who I think will find excellent and exciting opportunities,” he said.
Prince Faisal also highlighted labor reforms to provide foreign workers with flexible job opportunities.
“We have recently undergone significant labor reforms which have improved the flexibility of third-country labor within the Saudi labor market. They are now free to transfer their work from one employer to another,” he said.
Pakistani experts say the country needs to train its workforce to meet market requirements in other countries.
“Apart from the construction sector, foreign countries are now demanding knowledge-based labor,” Haroon Sharif, member of the prime minister’s task force on economic diplomacy, told Arab News.
“It is imperative we provide new and specialized training to our workforce in view of the changing demand in international markets, and our universities can play a pivotal role in that,” he said.
“We can also achieve the desired objective by involving the countries for which we are training our labor force.”