ISLAMABAD: Germany wants Pakistan to benefit from the European country’s plan to ramp up human capital imports in 2020.
German Ambassador to Pakistan Martin Kobler on Friday said Germany is looking to import manpower by 2020.
“In this drive of employing foreign human resources, Pakistan can prove to be an important contributor,” Kobler said at a meeting with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari.
They discussed investment opportunities in Pakistan and underscored a need to provide technical and vocational training to Pakistani youth, according to an official statement.
The plan of action was agreed upon to provide technical and professional education to workforce in Pakistan so that they can get maximum quota in 2020 manpower import plan of Germany.
“Germany showed interest in a role to increase technological skills in youth. The need to increase cooperation on federal and provincial level was emphasised during the meeting,” the statement added.
Bukhari said it is difficult to compete with the world on the basis of traditional education that is being provided in Pakistan.
“With the cooperation of Germany, Pakistan will be able to enhance its human capital,” he said. “Pakistanis must now have modern technical and professional education with skills that are required by countries like Germany.”
Separately, Finance Minister Asad Umar emphasised the role of foreign missions to increase foreign earnings for Pakistan.
Umar said Pakistani envoys based in foreign countries could identify jobs and skills that are in demand.
“Foreign missions have a very critical role to play,” the minister said addressing an economic diplomacy conference the other day. Remittances have emerged as a rescue for Pakistan’s faltering economy shocked by widening current accounts deficit.
Foreign exchange reserves continue to fall on debt repayments with the country’s ability to pay for import bills having been thinned to two months. Overseas Pakistanis sent $7.419 billion in July-October 2018/19, up 15 percent year-on-year.
Saudi Arabia’s two billion dollars of balance of payment support provided a brief relief, but structural reforms are what are urgently needed. Talks with the International Monetary Fund are underway.
Yet, Finance minister Umar reiterated his bet on mobilisation of domestic resources rather than “consumption-led, imported capital finance-reliant economy”.