Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development was informed on Friday that efforts were being made to send Pakistani skilled workforce to Japan by activating the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed between the two countries last month.
‘We are in constant contact with the Japanese government to operationalize the MoC at the earliest and have held a meeting at the counselor-level, accordingly, Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment Director General Kashif Noor told the committee which met here with Senator Hilal-ur-Rehman in the chair.
He apprised the committee that the overseas ministry had shared proposals and put some questions before the Japanese authorities in the meeting took place last week.
The proposed actions included establishment of Japanese language testing facility, skill development of Pakistani workers as per Japanese requirement and provision of the Overseas Employment Promoters list to Japan, he added.
Kashif said the MoC signed with Japan would open up new avenues for Pakistanis to work in 14 Japanese sectors including construction, information technology, nursing, manufacturing, engineering and others.
He pointed out that Japan was facing serious shortage of workers at the moment due to aging society and shrinking population.
He said the MoC with Japan would be implemented on the pattern of the government-to-government contract already in place with South Korea under which the intending emigrants had to qualify their language and skill tests.
The Japanese delegation was likely to visit the Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC) here to inspect the procedural system being followed to recruit Pakistani skilled manpower for South Korea, he added.
Responding to a query raised by Senator Nighat Mirza, Kashif said, ,Japan will not compromise on language and skill criterion requires for getting jobs there.,
He said the overseas ministry was in constant contact with the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission, provincial Technical Education and Training Authorities and the language institutes to set up language and skill centers in every province to impart the youth Japanese language and skills at par with Japan’s labour market demand.
The committee also discussed the issue of a Pakistani, Wajahat Butt, locked up in Liwan Detention Centre, Guanghou for alleged murder of a Chinese national while committing robbery.
