Zardari wants credible mechanism to help overseas Pakistanis

[Naveed Yaseen]

* President says country should tap into vast pool of expatriates to provide short-term services

ISLAMABAD: Calling for a credible and transparent mechanism to facilitate overseas Pakistanis’ access to the international job market, President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday urged them to invest their skills in the country for the short-term.

Addressing a briefing on “Placement of Highly-Qualified Pakistanis” in the shrinking global job market, he said the global recession required people to adopt new strategies. “One of the strategies that can be usefully utilised is tapping into the vast pool of expatriate Pakistanis to provide short-term services for the country,” he said. The president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the meeting had been convened to mark the formal launch of the ‘President’s Programme for Care of Highly-Qualified Overseas Pakistanis’, which aimed at integrating expatriates in national development strategies.

National database: Zardari said the first step towards utilising the skills of expatriate Pakistanis should be the development of a national database of expatriate professionals. He said the government should also compile a list of local institutions and projects that would be best served by expatriates. The president said the programme had occurred to him after he realised there were a large number of highly qualified Pakistanis living and working abroad, whose collective wisdom and expertise could be harnessed to resolve the challenges facing the country.

The briefing was told that a website, http://www.ppqp.gov.pk, had been launched on Wednesday, and had already been visited by over 30,000 people. It was also told that more than 170 expatriates had already sent their particulars and shown interest in providing short-term service to Pakistan.

The president said employers should also develop partnerships with global employment agencies by establishing links to global online job search and placement websites.

Labour Minister Syed Khursheed Shah thanked the president for his interest in integrating the expatriate community into the national mainstream, the APP news agency reported.

Farooq Sattar, overseas minister, said the briefing was the first step in the long journey to harness the maximum potential of Pakistanis working abroad, adding this resource had long been neglected. staff report/app

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