September 08, 2007	Saturday	Sha'aban 25, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 7: The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Friday demanded of the government to increase budget of overseas employment promoters (OEP) for boosting country’s foreign exchange earnings.

The government should also appoint the commercial counsellors abroad in almost all countries, which should search for new job opportunities and inform the OEP, senior vice-president of FPCCI Ishtiaq Qureshi said in a statement on Friday.

He said that by increasing the budget of overseas employment promoters and sending people to other countries for employment, the government could earn a lot of foreign exchange.

He added that at present there were 1,200 license holders working under the administrative control of seven zonal employment offices in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Multan, Quetta, Peshawar and Malakand.

Mr Qureshi said that during last seven years these zonal offices had sent about 0.575 million people from Punjab, 8,000 from Sindh, 0.307 million from NWFP, 8,000 from Balochistan, 65,000 from Northern Areas, and 66,000 from Azad Kashmir.