Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and a high-power delegation of European Union led by Thomas Deiler, the charge d’Affaires, discussed Talent Partnership Program (TPP) and other issues in their meeting held at CM House on Tuesday.
The TPP is being launched to discourage illegal immigration to rich countries by development a framework to exchange skilled and non-skilled labour under an agreement to be inked through EU.
The meeting was attended by CM Advisor on Investment Qasim Naveed, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, and Special Secretary to CM Rahim Shaikh.
The EU delegation members included political officers, Ms Dilarde Teilane, Eric Hahn EMLO and Trade Advisor Husnain Iftakhar.
The head of the delegation told the chief minister that the EU has envisaged a program to stop illegal immigration under which human rights are trampled. Under the program, the EU would make an employment arrangement in some South African, European including France and countries for the people of Pakistan.
Under the program skilled and unskilled workers would be provided employment opportunities.
The provincial government would have to impart technical training to its youth so that they could be sent abroad under an EU program.
The provincial government, before launching technical training programs, would assess the requirements of the trades/field in which skilled labors were required abroad and then the courses would be offered accordingly.
The Chief Minister directed Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi to discuss modalities of the programs with the EU concerned team for launching the scheme.
GSP plus; GSP Plus scheme allows qualified developing countries to pay no duties on some exports to the European Union. The facility was first awarded to Pakistan in January 2014 for 10 years 2014-2023. Since January 2014, Pakistan has benefited from the Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+). The GSP plus grants full removal of tariffs on over 66 percent of EU tariff lines. However, the EU is now proposing to add five new conventions to reinforce the social, labor, environmental and climate dimensions keeping in view that the current framework expires at the end of 2023.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah told the delegation his government was working hard to eliminate child labour for which legislation has been made. He added that his government has launched several projects in the light of climate change.
The Development Cooperation of the European Union in Sindh is aligned with the Vision 2025. The Sindh government is currently in the process of preparing an integrated development plan for Sindh’s ‘Poverty Reduction Strategy’ adopted in 2018.
The EU cooperation in Sindh has been instrumental for uplifting the populace from exacerbating poverty and building sustainable societies.
Since 2014 the European Union has committed the funds of EUR 171.24 million. The projects being implemented in Sindh include Rural Development, Education, and Governance.
Sindh is home to 48 million people as such requires development of Human Capital on topmost priority.
Under this priority area EU cooperation will be essential to address the existing skills gap with a focus on trades relevant to the priority area of Green and Inclusive Growth. The aim is to increase availability of an employable skilled work force and upgrading skills through knowledge transfer, with a particular focus on women and youth, and refugees.
In 2010, the 18 Constitutional Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan increased substantially the mandate of the provinces, which in some sectors became responsible for policy formulation and public service delivery such as education, while other important sectors, including finance, vocational training continue to be led from the federal level.
The chief minister said that effective implementation of policies remained a major challenge.
He added that the Sindh government was working to uphold good governance by strengthening the rule of law in line with international standards, improving financial management, enhancing access to social and economic rights and ensuring greater adherence to the international agreements that underpin the GSP plus scheme.
