ISLAMABAD, Apr 01 (APP): Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA), Punjab Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC), enabling its students to explore job opportunities in those countries that have state-to-state agreements with Pakistan for hiring skilled and non-skilled labour.
TEVTA Chairman Ali Salman Saddique and OEC Managing Director (MD) Kashif Ali Noor signed the agreement in a simple ceremony which held here with the anti-coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) and in presence of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari.
Speaking on the occasion, SAPM Zulfikar Bukhari said it was happening first time in the history of Pakistan that a ‘one-stop solution’ portal had been developed, which would eventually meet the demand and supply gap for jobs at a single platform.
He termed the signing of MoU a ‘historic day’ for the country.
The SAPM said around 1.2 million Pakistanis had been sent to multiple countries for various job assignments since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government came into power.
He added the Pakistani manpower export witnessed a slowdown in the wake of coronavirus.
Zulfikar Bukhari said though the numbers of manpower export were still high but a major chunk of it came from the private sector.
He said after signing of the agreement, now the ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development would be able to inform the TEVTA about demand of overseas job opportunities so that they could train their students accordingly.
The SAPM said it was an important step which could not become possible without the OEC MD and TEVTA chairman’s efforts. He also thanked the heads of both the organization for the initiative.
He said the initiative would promote overseas employment in the country and help Pakistan boost its manpower supply.
New job markets such as Germany and Japan had been opened for Pakistan as the government had recently signed new agreements with their governments for providing job opportunities to the Pakistani youth in modern trades, he added.
Zulfikar Bukhari said the government was striving to explore new markets so that more youth could get better job opportunities abroad.
He underlined the need for enhancing skill-set of the youth to boost Pakistani manpower export.
The TEVTA chairman said the portal would help its 250,000 students to get job opportunities in the foreign countries. The new management of TEVTA developed new eco-system which focused on five areas including access, quality, demand-driven skills, economic opportunities and innovation.
He said his department was making all-out efforts to ensure provision of economic opportunities to its students.
According to an official source in OEC, the online portal would connect all the actors involved in the overseas employment including job-seekers, foreign employers and overseas employment promoters.
He said the OEC was an attached department of the overseas ministry.
