AT a time when our youth is struggling to find jobs in the domestic market, a golden opportunity has opened for them to get themselves hired in different fields in Japan – one of the world’s most advanced countries.
Pakistan and Japan signed the much awaited MoU on Monday under which the latter will import skilled workforce from Pakistan in different fields including construction, nursing care, agriculture, manufacturing, light engineering and others. Because of its aging population and the plummet it is witnessing in working population, Japan intends to import hundreds of thousands of workers from all over the world to take ahead its economic development and technological advancements it has achieved over the years. For this reason, the country has also relaxed its visa policy and apart from Pakistan also signed MoUs with other South Asian states to fill the shortage of labour force. Given our demographic dividend of young population, this is an amazing opportunity for us which should be fully exploited with the right kind of interventions. It is up to our federal and provincial governments as to how it trains the youth both men and women to grab maximum opportunities in the labour starved country. Training programs at the technical institutes should be tailored in such a manner that fulfils the criteria and requirements of importing country. Whilst addressing the MoU ceremony, Japanese Ambassador Kuninori Matsuda said his country has great expectations from Pakistani skilled workforce. This really shows the interest and preference of Japanese friends for our labour. To meet their demand, it is important our technical training institutes also start special Japanese language courses in order to enable the youth become eligible for the Japanese visa. Punjab government has recently launched a very comprehensive high tech training program with the nomenclature of Hunarmand Jawan. Whilst making Japanese language part of the training program, the authorities in Punjab need to engage closely with the Japanese companies so that those graduating from the training can easily secure jobs there. Pakistan and Japan enjoy historic relations but of late a frost has witnessed in them. In our view, the workforce import will play an important role to once again reinvigorate those relations leading to promotion of cooperation in diverse fields. Then our authorities should also explore the opportunities of workforce export in other East Asian countries including South Korea.
