TAXILA, Oct 3: Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Friday said the government, was considering establishing at least one vocational institute in each district to meet the demand of skilled labour in international market.

The minister was speaking at a public gathering held at Lala Rukh, Wah Cantonment. The event was arranged by PML Wah Cantonment President Malik Taimoor Akbar. He said the manpower importing countries had revised criteria for employing people from other countries.

Now, he said, those seeking jobs abroad must have at least secondary school certificate, good health and skills. He said to meet these demands, the ministry would set up more vocational institutes.

He said the ministry had set a target of exporting 200,000 skilled manpower annually in a bid to capture international labour market. The government has allocated more than Rs1 billion during the current fiscal year for undertaking various development projects pertaining to labourers' welfare in Punjab. He said the government was committed to providing all basic facilities to the industrial workers.

The minister said introduction of labour-friendly laws was one of the goals being pursued by the ministry during the current fiscal year. He said labour-friendly amendments would also be made to the Industrial Relations Ordinance (IRO) 2002.

He said the work on establishment of labour complexes was in full swing in key industrial areas of Punjab, and these complexes would include a labour colony, a hospital and a school for children of industrial workers. The government, he said, was taking measures to provide better and modern health cover and accommodation facilities to industrial workers at their doorstep.

Mr Khan said sufficient funds were being mobilized for providing educational facilities to the children of industrial workers, while free uniforms and text books were provided to the students of educational institutions in the province. He said proposals were under consideration of provincial workers welfare boards to construct labour colonies throughout the country.

He said the labour ministry had established a complaint cell and a help line in the ministry to resolve all grievances of overseas Pakistanis at the earliest.

About the president's uniform issue, the minister said holding of two offices at a time should be left to the discretion of the president. The minister condemned the Sialkot terrorist incident, and said the government as committed to eliminating terrorism.

The minister said there was no threat to the government and general election would be held on schedule in 2007. He claimed that 12 out of 18 MNAs of PML-N had secretly joined hands with the government as they were "fed up with the negative policies of the party leaders".