Zulfi Bukhari returns home from Doha after concluding three-day visit

ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (APP):Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari returned home from Doha on Friday after concluding a successful three-day visit.

The official tour was designed to promote Qatar- Pakistan relations in the field of investments, tourism and manpower, a press release received here said on Friday.

The SAPM held fruitful meetings with representatives of Qatari government and its business community including Qatar Chamber of Commerce, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, Qatar Development Fund, the Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Airways. He also met with Pakistani Community there and visited labor camp in Doha.

During his visit to Qatar chamber, the special assistant met with the Second Vice Chairman, Rashid-bin-Hammad Al-Athba and discussed the ways to enhance bilateral trade between two countries.

Al-Athba noted that Pakistan “is among Qatar’s important trade partners” , adding that Qatar-Pakistan bilateral trade grew by 63 per cent from 5.8billion Qatari Riyals in 2017 to 9.5billion Qatari Riyals last year.

He showed his willingness to extend all possible support to Pakistan in the field of trade and economics.

He assured the delegation about making concrete efforts to protect the rights of the workers and underlined the need for importing more skilled and qualified manpower from Pakistan especially for FIFA 2022 event.

Zulfikar Bukhari said: “Qatar and Pakistan are linked by deep and fraternal relations.” He lauded Qatar’s decision in 2015 to recruit 100,000 Pakistanis.

The SAPM also discussed the possibility of establishing Qatar Visa Centres in Lahore and Peshawar so as to strengthen and increase its role.

Earlier, during a meeting with the Minister of Labor and Social affairs, H.E Yousaf Mohamed-Al-Othman Fakhroo, the two sides reviewed aspects of joint cooperation between the two countries, especially on issues related to Pakistani workers.

Zulfikar Bukhari highlighted the potential of Pakistani workforce and urged to expedite their recruitment in health and energy sector.

He also emphasized the need for digital connectivity between the two ministries, which would make the recruitment mechanism more efficient.

The meeting was followed by a visit of Zulfiqar Bukhari to Asian town Labor camp in Industrial Area at Doha, Qatar where he interacted with the Pakistani workforce.

The workers apprised the SAPM about their issues on which the advisor assured them of all possible help from the government particularly from the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis.

The SAPM also met with the officials of Qatar Fund for Development (QFD) and requested them for establishment of a state of the art educational institution in Islamabad.

He agreed to provide details of this proposal to the QFD so that they could look into the matter and decide about possible avenues of cooperation for establishment of the institution.

While meeting the Qatari foreign minister, Bukhari conveyed him Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir. They further discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral trade and people-to-people contacts between two countries.