‘Govt working on quota for OEPs’

Islamabad : Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) Sajid Hussain Turi has said that the government is working to allocate quota to Overseas Employment Promoters (OEPs) in order to increase manpower exports.

He said this while addressing the business community during his visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI). The Minister said that the government has set a target of manpower export of one million this year and tapping new markets for manpower export as he has visited many countries including Romania, Portugal and Greece who have shown interest in importing manpower from Pakistan.

He said that Malta, Poland, Hungary, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taji­k­istan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq have also shown interest to import manpower from Pakistan and MoUs are being signed with many of them in this regard. Sajid Hussain Turi said that over 4,700 OEPs are working in Pakistan out of which about 2,200 are active and stressed that they should play a role in promoting manpower exports while the government would facilitate them.

Speaking at the occasion, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, president, ICCI said that Pakistan is facing reducing foreign exchange reserves and promoting manpower export is the best option to enhance remittances and improve forex reserves.