CONCERTED EFFORT: Members of the visiting delegation with Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, 4th from right, and Pakistan Ambassador Shahzad Ahmad, 5th from right.
By Umer Nangiana
A five-member delegation, led by Pakistan’s provincial Labour Minister of Punjab Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, has arrived in Doha to discuss with local authorities the agenda of enhancing the quantity and quality of skilled workforce to be exported from Pakistan to Qatar.
Following the understanding reached between the two countries during the visit of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to Pakistan in March this year, the delegation will hold meetings with Qatar’s Labour Minister and other government officials besides the representatives of Pakistani companies and businesses operating in Qatar.
“The agenda of our visit is the export of labour from Pakistan to Qatar. This has been going on for a while. Initially, the Chief Minister of Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif came here and then HH the Emir of Qatar went to Pakistan and he showed a keen interest in the matter,” said Sarwar, speaking to Community after a dinner reception at Pakistan House, hosted by ambassador Shahzad Ahmad.
“Somehow or the other, we feel that Qatar is reaching out to Pakistan more than before. They have always been our friends and have always been there. We in turn are very conscious about the fact that the quality of labour that we send from there has to be at par with their standards,” said the visiting minister.
About the members in his team, he said, they are all experts in their respective fields and are experienced professionals with each one of them successful in his own field. He said that he would apprise Qatar’s labour minister the measures that have been taken to make sure that Pakistan meets Qatar’s standards and compete with the rest.
“Through a one-window operation we have an established mechanism under which we will certify and ensure that if somebody is an electrician, he is a competent one who comes over here and he makes a name for himself and his country,” said Sarwar.
He added that the type of labour to be exported from Pakistan depends on Qatar’s requirements which he would discuss with the Labour Minister here.
“We met the Pakistani companies working here and they have given us a lot of insight. Basing on that input we will hopefully have a good meeting with the Qatari officials,” said the minister from Punjab.
He also said that they are expecting a certain number of Pakistani skilled workforce to be exported to Qatar. “HH The Emir of Qatar when he went to Pakistan, he wished to increase the number of Pakistanis working here to double the existing number which is around 1,25,000 I believe. So this is what we are going to take up with the Qatari authorities,” said the minister.
“It is not just the number; it is the quality that we want to send from Pakistan. We do not want to send just the routine type like previously the way it was handled and the agents exploited the situation. We are personally going to supervise and we are going to send the right people for the right job,” he added.
Since he is from Punjab, Sarwar said he was also keen on taking the responsibility for other provinces in Pakistan and will make sure that every province gets its equal share and is duly represented. “After the devolution (of Labour ministry to provinces), every province is supposed to do its work but somehow or the other I have taken the responsibility of other provinces because there is not much activity at the federal government level. So naturally we will have to include our brothers from other provinces also,” said Sarwar in reply to a question.
He added that in the last year South Asia Labour Conference held in Pakistan and participated by representatives from regional countries, all provinces were invited. One can find good labour from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and it is a labour that has a good reputation in this country, said the minister.
About the vocational training institutes in Pakistan, the minister said that they will train whatever the demand is. It will be demand-driven centres and again they will ensure that only qualified and right people arrive here. “I have requested the companies here and I will also request the minister to allow us to send a few hundred or thousand people first and then I will personally visit along with my team to make sure the quality which we sent is acceptable and if there is anything lacking, we will take care of it in future,” said the minister.
The members of the delegation include Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, Chairman of TEVTA, Ali Akbar Bosan, Chief Operating Officer of PSDF; Faisal Ijaz Khan, Chairman of PVTC and Syed Fakhar Ahmed, Director of HRS Global.
