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Finmin says Pakistan has ‘big potential’ in skilled labor export to support Saudi Vision 2030

Finmin says Pakistan has ‘big potential’ in skilled labor export to support Saudi Vision 2030
Pakistan Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, poses for a photo at the Emerging Markets Conference 2025 in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, on February 16, 2025. (PID)
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Updated 17 February 2025
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Finmin says Pakistan has ‘big potential’ in skilled labor export to support Saudi Vision 2030

Finmin says Pakistan has ‘big potential’ in skilled labor export to support Saudi Vision 2030
  • The statement came on the sidelines of a two-day Emerging Market Economies Conference in Saudi Arabia’s AlUla city
  • The Kingdom has initiated several groundbreaking projects as part of Vision 2030 to shift its economy away from oil
Updated 17 February 2025
Arab News Pakistan
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ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said that Pakistan has a “big potential” in terms of skilled labor export to Saudi Arabia to support the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 framework.
The statement came on the sidelines of a two-day Emerging Market Economies Conference in Saudi Arabia’s AlUla city, where he will be taking part in discussions around sustainable economic growth amid global uncertainties.
Saudi Arabia is consolidating its economy on modern lines under the Vision 2030, which is a strategic development framework that intends to cut the Kingdom’s reliance on oil.
The program is aimed at developing public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation and tourism, and the Kingdom has initiated several groundbreaking projects that are expected to significantly impact the Pakistani labor market.
“We do think there is big potential in terms of exports from Pakistan, especially with respect to skilled labor, in terms of everything that Saudi Arabia requires in terms of executing Vision 2030,” Aurangzeb told Arab News on the sidelines of the AlUla summit.




(From left to right) Pakistan Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb joins the head table luncheon with Bahrain Finance and National Economy Minister Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan and Vice Minister Abdulmuhsen Alkhalaf at the Emerging Markets Conference 2025 in Alula, Saudi Arabia on February 16, 2025. (Photo courtesy: Pakistan Finance Ministry)

“So, there are a number of opportunities for the two countries to work together.”
Pakistanis constitute one of the largest migrant communities in Saudi Arabia, with more than 2 million working in the Kingdom and making it the largest source of remittances to Pakistan. While a significant majority of these Pakistanis comprises blue-collar workers, there is still a growing demand for skilled labor in the Kingdom as it seeks to modernize its economy.
Rana Mujtaba, a spokesperson of the Pakistani Education and Professional Training Ministry, told Arab News in April last year that Islamabad was working on a new education policy to impart different technical skills to at least a million youth per annum to export trained human resource to Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has also proposed a partnership with the Pakistani government to offer training programs for young Pakistanis and impart “modern and relevant skills” to meet labor market demands in Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said this month.

Topics: Pakistan Saudi Arabia ties AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan IMF Pakistan talks Pakistan Saudi Ties

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Health authorities confirm first mpox case in Pakistan’s Sindh

Health authorities confirm first mpox case in Pakistan’s Sindh
Updated 20 sec ago
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Health authorities confirm first mpox case in Pakistan’s Sindh

Health authorities confirm first mpox case in Pakistan’s Sindh
  • The 29-year-old patient has no recent travel history, raising suspicion of local transmission
  • Provincial health official says the patient is kept in isolation, with contact tracing in progress
Updated 20 sec ago
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Pakistan’s southeastern province of Sindh on Saturday reported its first mpox case, with health authorities saying the patient, in his late 20s, had no recent travel history and was being kept in isolation at a local hospital.
Pakistan reported eight cases last year and five this year of mpox, which causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Children, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems face a higher risk of complications from the infection.
Mpox can spread through close contact with an infected person, such as skin-to-skin touching or cuts, sexual activity, mouth-to-mouth contact, or by breathing in infectious respiratory particles.
The Sindh health department’s announcement highlighting the lack of travel history raises suspicion of a locally transmitted case.
“Saturday 22nd March 2025, the lab confirmed the first case of Monkeypox in Sindh,” Meeran Yousuf, the provincial health department spokesperson, said in a brief statement.
“The 29-year-old male, resident of District Malir, has no recent travel history,” he continued. “His first symptom onset was on 15th March 2025. The patient is currently in isolation at a public hospital and contact tracing is currently being conducted by the health department.”
Last month, Pakistan reported two new mpox cases in the northwestern city of Peshawar, one of which was said to be the country’s first locally transmitted case.
The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency in 2024 over the spread of a new, more dangerous mutated strain of mpox, named clade I. The strain first emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spread to several countries, prompting increased monitoring and preventive measures worldwide.
Pakistan has so far not reported any cases of the new mutation.

Topics: MPOX mpox pakistan

Pakistan’s special envoy visits Afghanistan amid deepening tensions over militancy

Pakistan’s special envoy visits Afghanistan amid deepening tensions over militancy
Updated 22 March 2025
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Pakistan’s special envoy visits Afghanistan amid deepening tensions over militancy

Pakistan’s special envoy visits Afghanistan amid deepening tensions over militancy
  • The Pak-Afghan ties have remained tense in recent months due to a mix of security, political and border issues
  • Pakistan has deported over 800,000 Afghans since Nov. 2023 and plans to repatriate more in the coming days
Updated 22 March 2025
Muhammad Ibrahim

ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani diplomat designated to exclusively deal with Afghanistan-related matters is on a three-day visit to the neighboring country, the foreign office announced on Saturday, as bilateral ties between the two nations hit a low point amid a surge in militant attacks in Pakistan.
Pakistan-Afghanistan relations have remained tense in recent months due to a mix of security, political and border issues, with Islamabad accusing the Taliban-led interim government in Kabul of providing safe haven to anti-Pakistan militant groups facilitating cross-border attacks. Kabul has denied the allegations.
The friction escalated after a recent targeting of a passenger train in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
Pakistani officials said the BLA fighters remained in contact with “handlers” based in Afghanistan during the attack that lasted for two days and involved hundred of hostages.
“At the direction of Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50, Special Representative for Afghanistan, Amb. Muhammad Sadiq Khan, is undertaking an official visit to Afghanistan from 21-23 March 2025 to discuss Pakistan-Afghanistan bilateral relation,” the foreign office said in a social media post, without providing further details.
Pakistan launched a nationwide deportation campaign targeting undocumented foreigners, mostly Afghans, in November 2023, shortly after a series of deadly suicide bombings that officials blamed on Afghan nationals.
The move, which added to diplomatic tensions between the two countries, has so far led to the repatriation of more than 800,000 Afghans. Many of them had lived in Pakistan since fleeing the Soviet invasion of their country in 1979.
The Pakistani government earlier this month also directed Afghanistan Citizen Card holders to leave the country by March 31, warning they would face deportation if they failed to comply.

Topics: Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi Pakistan Afghan Ties Afghan Taliban

Baloch rights group says top leader arrested in police raid in southwestern Pakistan

Baloch rights group says top leader arrested in police raid in southwestern Pakistan
Updated 34 min 19 sec ago
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Baloch rights group says top leader arrested in police raid in southwestern Pakistan

Baloch rights group says top leader arrested in police raid in southwestern Pakistan
  • Baloch Yakjehti Committee says Dr. Mahrang Baloch was arrested amid a province-wide wheel-jam strike
  • Provincial authorities blame BYC activists for trying to snatch the bodies of militants who targeted Jaffar Express
Updated 34 min 19 sec ago
SAADULLAH AKHTER

QUETTA: A leading Baloch ethnic rights group announced on Saturday its top leader was arrested along with several of her colleagues in southwestern Balochistan after police raided their protest camp at dawn in the provincial capital of Quetta.
Dr. Mahrang Baloch has long campaigned for the rights of the ethnic Baloch community, which claims to be subjected to extrajudicial harassment, arrests and killings by security forces in the province.
The Pakistani state, however, denies the allegation, saying its forces are combating separatist militants who target armed forces personnel and foreign nationals in the mineral-rich province that borders Iran and Afghanistan.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) said its leader’s arrest came amid a province-wide wheel-jam strike that followed an alleged police attack on a protest in Quetta that killed three people on Friday evening. BYC said its leader and other supporters began a sit-in with the bodies of the deceased when authorities intervened and detained them.
“At around 5:30 this morning, police and other state agencies attacked the protest sit-in, seized the bodies of the martyrs from the demonstrators, and arrested Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s central leader, Dr. Mahrang Baloch, along with her companions,” Sammi Deen Baloch, another BYC leader, said in a social media post.
“The bodies of the slain youth were also forcibly taken into custody,” she added. “In addition, a crackdown was carried out against women and children as well.”
Balochistan’s provincial authorities accused the BYC of getting into a confrontation with police after some of its members allegedly tried to snatch the bodies of deceased militants involved in the hijacking of a passenger train in the province from a mortuary last week.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group, had targeted the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express in the mountainous Bolan region on March 11, taking hundreds of passengers captive.
The siege, which lasted for two days, ended after a military operation that killed 33 militants. The attack, which also claimed the lives of over 30 civilians and security personnel, was one of the deadliest train assaults in the country’s history.
A senior police official confirmed to Arab News on condition of anonymity that Baloch and seven other BYC activists had been arrested in this morning following the attempt to take militants’ bodies with them.
“Police have lodged an FIR [first information report] against Dr. Mahrang and other protesters who attempted to snatch militants’ bodies from the Civil Hospital on Wednesday to glorify the terrorists,” he said. “They also snatched two bodies yesterday from the families who wanted to bury their loved ones and didn’t want to be part of the police and BYC clash.”
A statement released by the office of the commissioner Quetta division during the day also maintained the BYC initiated a protest seeking the recovery of the bodies of militants who targeted the passenger train.
“The protest quickly turned violent as BYC protesters and their armed accomplices resorted to stone-pelting, indiscriminate firing and attacks on law enforcement personnel,” the statement continued. “During the unrest, three individuals lost their lives due to the firing by armed elements accompanying BYC leadership.”
The statement added civil authorities and police emphasized the deceased individuals’ bodies required examination to ascertain the actual circumstances of their deaths, but the BYC refused to hand them over.
“On the request of the deceased’s families, police successfully recovered the bodies from the unlawful custody of BYC supporters and ensured their respectful handover to the respective families,” the statement informed.
“Legal proceedings have been initiated against BYC leaders and their armed associates for inciting and abetting unlawful activities,” it added. “They have been booked under relevant laws for attacking the Civil Hospital, instigating violent protests and other serious offenses.”
Meanwhile, Sabiha Baloch, a senior BYC member, conducted a news conference in which she presented a list of demands to the government.
“The [Balochistan] chief minister, inspector general of police, commissioner and deputy commissioner of Quetta must be sacked for killing three unarmed protesters,” she said. “All detained members of BYC, including Dr. Mahrang Baloch, must be released immediately.”
The authorities restored the cellphone service in Quetta on Saturday evening after suspending it for 16 hours amid the BYC protests. However, the cellphone Internet service continues to remain suspended even after three days.

Topics: Baloch Yakjehti Committee Dr. Mahrang Baloch Mahrang Baloch Balochistan Attacks Jaffar Express Quetta Railway Station

Pakistan Railways reduces train fares for travel on Eid Al-Fitr

Pakistan Railways reduces train fares for travel on Eid Al-Fitr
Updated 22 March 2025
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Pakistan Railways reduces train fares for travel on Eid Al-Fitr

Pakistan Railways reduces train fares for travel on Eid Al-Fitr
  • Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis travel via airplanes, trains, buses to their hometowns to celebrate Eid with family and friends
  • This week, Pakistan’s government announced a three-day holiday from Mar. 31 to Apr. 2 on account of the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Fitr
Updated 22 March 2025
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Pakistan Railways has reduced fares for passenger for travel during Eid Al-Fitr holidays, it announced on Saturday.
Eid Al-Fitr marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan for Muslims worldwide. Ramadan began in Pakistan on Mar. 2, a day after most other Muslims nations, and the Eid Al-Fitr festival at end of the holy month is expected to fall on Mar. 31.
Pakistan’s government this week announced a three-day holiday from Mar. 31 to Apr. 2 on account of the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Fitr.
“The competent authority has been pleased to grant 20 percent concession in fares of all mail and express, intercity and passenger trains in all classes (managed by PR only) on account of the auspicious occasion of Eid Al-Fitr,” the railways department said in a notification.
“This concession will be allowed on current booking only on 1st, 2nd and 3rd days of Eid Al-Fitr.”
Eid Al-Fitr is one of two major Muslim festivals, the other being Eid Al-Adha, which is marked by the slaughtering of animals such as sheep and goats whose meat is shared among family and friends and donated to the poor. This year, Eid Al-Adha is expected to fall on June 6 or 7, marking the culmination of the Hajj pilgrimage.
Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis travel via airplanes, trains, buses to their hometowns from far-flung cities and abroad to celebrate the joyous occasions with families and friends each year.
Pakistan Railways also runs special trains on both Eids to facilitate passengers.
“No person or party will be allowed to avail two or more concessions at one time,” the notification read. “Concessional fares shall not be applicable to the Eid special trains.”

Topics: Pakistan Railway Eid ul-Fitr 2025 Eid-ul-Fitr

On World Water Day, PM calls for steps to preserve glaciers for Pakistan’s secure future

On World Water Day, PM calls for steps to preserve glaciers for Pakistan’s secure future
Updated 22 March 2025
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On World Water Day, PM calls for steps to preserve glaciers for Pakistan’s secure future

On World Water Day, PM calls for steps to preserve glaciers for Pakistan’s secure future
  • Pakistan has around 13,000 glaciers, of which nearly 10,000 are receding and expected to cause significant water disruptions
  • PM Shehbaz Sharif says Pakistan’s wetlands are disappearing three times faster than its forests and demand immediate action
Updated 22 March 2025
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged Pakistanis to take steps to preserve water resources, including glaciers, for a water-secure future of the country, his office said on Saturday, on the World Water Day.
The World Water Day is an annual United Nations (UN) observance held on March 22 each year that highlights the importance of freshwater. The day is used to advocate for sustainable management of freshwater resources across the globe.
In his message, Sharif said the day, being observed under the theme of “Glacier Preservation” this year, reminds them of the critical role glaciers play in sustaining the planet’s freshwater supplies and of the grave challenges in protecting this essential resource.
“Nearly half of the global population experiences water scarcity for at least part of the year. Billions remain without access to clean drinking water, while water pollution continues to rise at alarming levels. Our wetlands are disappearing three times faster than our forests. This is no longer a distant threat. It is a global crisis that demands immediate and collective action,” Sharif was quoted as saying by his office.
“On this World Water Day, let us reaffirm our resolve to preserve our glaciers, protect our water resources, and work together for a resilient, water-secure future— for our people, our region, and our planet.”
There are a total of 13,000 glaciers in Pakistan and nearly 10,000 of them are receding and expected to cause significant water disruptions, according to Pakistani authorities.
The melting of these glaciers at a fast pace and heavy untimely rains due to climate change put the South Asian country at risk of frequent floods, while at the same time, droughts pose an equally serious threat, with nearly 80 percent of Pakistan’s land categorized as arid or semi-arid and 30 percent of population directly affected by drought-like conditions.
Melting glaciers contribute to rising sea levels, another cause of coastal erosion. The sea level at Karachi rose almost 8 inches (almost 20 centimeters) between 1916 and 2016, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It’s projected to rise another half-inch (about 1.3 centimeters) by 2040.
In areas near the southwestern coastal city of Gwadar, like Pishukan and Ganz, waves have swallowed up mosques, schools, and settlements. There are gashes in the cliffs at the popular picnic spot of Sunset Park and rocks have cascaded onto the shore, while beaches run flat for dozens of kilometers because no structures remain on it.
“Pakistan is among the ten countries most vulnerable to climate change. Our average temperatures are projected to rise faster than the global average,” Sharif said.
“Over three-quarters of our water resources originate outside our borders. That is why Pakistan attaches great importance to transboundary water cooperation.”
He said his government was working to mitigate climate-induced flood risks and reduce drought impacts through ecosystem-based adaptation, and implementing 25 priority interventions from promoting nature-based agriculture and restoring the Indus delta to curbing industrial pollution and investing in green infrastructure.

Topics: World Water Day Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif

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