Special Assistant to Prime Minister of Pakistan on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development H E Muhammad Jawad Sohrab Malik
Doha, Qatar: The government of Pakistan lauds Qatar’s labour sector reforms and is keen to strengthen ties between the two brotherly countries, especially in manpower and human resource sector, an aide to the Pakistani Prime Minister has said.
These remarks were made by H E Muhammad Jawad Sohrab Malik (pictured), who is Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development. Malik is visiting Qatar on the invitation of Minister of Labour H E Dr. Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri to explore the opportunities Qatar’s fast-growing economy offers to Pakistani manpower. Malik met the Minister of Labour yesterday and signed letters of intent with two private companies for recruitment of Pakistani manpower.
“The focus of the meeting with the Minister of Labour was for us to avail the opportunities that Qatar has for Pakistanis, in particular our workforce. It was a very fruitful meeting. We discussed the possibilities of increasing our manpower in Qatar,” Malik said in his remarks to the media after his meetings yesterday.
He lauded the reforms taken by Qatar in recent years, saying a better quality of life and higher financial remuneration were making Qatar a preferred destination for Pakistani workers. He said a 300,000-strong Pakistani community was playing an important role not only in Qatar’s development but also for Pakistan's. He said more than 100,000 Pakistanis came to work in Qatar in 2022 and 2023, and Pakistan is keen to increase this number, especially in the skilled workforce.
The Pakistani PM’s aide said he will be signing letters of intent with six to eight employers in Qatar during his visit. “We need to upskill our individuals, raise the demand, skill them according to the demand, and then have avenues where we can send out this workforce to. And those avenues will only come when we sign these independent agreements with all of these employers.”
Malik told The Peninsula that the sectors they are focusing on in their talks with employers in Qatar include construction, hospitality, healthcare and oil and gas.
Malik said the construction industry has traditionally employed the majority of foreign workforce in the GCC countries, but going forward more jobs will be created in the services sector.
Malik said the government was also working on aligning skills education in Pakistan with the global job market.
“We are working in close collaboration with Pakistan’s National Vocational and Technical Training Commission and we are ensuring that the courses they impart to the labour force in Pakistan align and are compatible with the demand that is raised internationally,” he said.
He said the remittances sent by migrant workers are very crucial for Pakistan’s economy. Pakistan receives around $27bn in remittances every year, and Pakistani workers in Qatar remit $1bn back home on average every year.
Malik said to skill up workers especially for the services sector, his ministry was submitting a proposal to the Cabinet of Pakistan to make it mandatory for workers seeking employment abroad to learn the language of their host country, which is Arabic in the case of Qatar and other GCC countries.
