ISLAMABAD, July 21: Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan here on Thursday said the federal cabinet had approved formation of a national technical education and vocational training authority to train labour workforce across the country. The authority would initially be set up at the federal level, however, later it would be shifted to the provincial level, the minister said while speaking at a “dialogue on increasing labour competitiveness through human resource development”. The discussion was organized by Human Resource Development Network (HRDN).

The minister said the objective of the authority was to impart vocational training to hundreds and thousands of unskilled people to enable them to get better jobs in the Middle East and Gulf states.

He stressed the need for an integrated approach to human resource development, encompassing education, skills, health, productivity and ethics, to enable the labour force to compete in the international market.

In his presentation, Pakistan Manpower Institute Director- General Athar Mahmood said the federal government had undertaken several measures to increase labour competitiveness by focusing on skill development through technical and vocational training.