March 21, 2006	Tuesday	Safar 20, 1427

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RAWALPINDI, March 20: Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Monday said prospects for increase in country’s manpower export had brightened as South Korea had decided to include Pakistan in its source list of countries.

He was addressing the members of the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He said with this, Pakistan would be able to get attractive and better salary packages for its nationals seeking employment in South Korea.

The Korean package was said to be better than what being offered by Malaysians, he said.

He said the government had approved establishment of two polytechnic institutes, one each in Rawalpindi and Taxila.

The minister said polytechnic institute in Rawalpindi was a long-standing demand of the people of this city, and by establishing the institute, the government was returning the institution which the city had lost decades ago.

About the establishment of the Institute in Taxila, the constituency of the Minister, he said a land of 100 kanals had been acquired from the Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC), and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz would perform the ground-breaking of the project by the end of this month.

The Minister said that skilled manpower had been in great demand in the world labour market, therefore, the government was taking measures to open vocational training and educational centres country-wide.

He said polytechnic institutes were being opened at all districts of the country, while vocational training institutes at tehsil level. The National Vocational Technical Education Commission (NVTEC) had already been set up at federal level. “Technical education and vocational training are now highly needed, this is a weak area, and we have to pay attention to this end,” he said.

He said

He said he was undertaking visit to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain during the first week of April as special envoy of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to explore possibilities of more employment opportunities for Pakistanis in these countries.

He said the Prime Minister was taking special interest to explore potential markets in the Middle East.

Mr Sarwar also said that a four-member Malaysian delegation headed by Datuk Dr. P. Manogran would visit Pakistan from March 21-23 to discuss the issue of Pakistani manpower export under the memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries in 2003. He said the private sector would be involved in the talks with the Malaysian delegation.

He said the Pakistani promoters should be equally held responsible for the mismanagement and mishandling of manpower export to Malaysia, and advised them to form a consortium of promoters, which, he said, would streamline their operation and create better understanding to balance the market.

He said the government was bringing six amendments in the labour laws. These amendments would not only improve industrial growth but also protect workers’ rights. An amendment was related to the Workers Welfare Fund, which would benefits workers.

He said the government wanted better relations between employers and employees. “No country can progress if rights of employees are not respected,” he added.

President of Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Jalil Ahmed Malik presented a brief account of the problems being faced by promoters. Mr. Mumtaz Hussain, member, RCCI Committee on Manpower said there is a great potential of manpower and the government should take concrete measures to harness the potential. Except for Malaysia, he said, there were many other places which had not been explored.