Pakistan to send up to 50,000 workers to Libya: The News

By Salman Siddiqui

KARACHI: Ambassador of Pakistan to Libya, Jamil Ahmed Khan, has said that around 30-50 thousand skilled and semi-skilled labourers would be sent from Pakistan to Libya by the end of the current calendar year.

He was briefing a group of journalists here the other day in the backdrop of President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent visit to Libya. “This was the first official visit from any president to Libya since Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s government ended,” he said.

At present, some 12,000 Pakistani employees are working in Libya, out of which 25 are rendering their services at top managerial posts, Khan said in reply to a question.

In 1974, around 0.15 million Pakistanis were working in Libya. However, relationship between the two countries cooled, as the Libyan head of state Colonel Moammar Gaddafi did not support the “governments of two dictators in Pakistan after the end of Bhutto’s government.”

Since President Zardari was a symbol of democracy the relationship between Pakistan and Libya was moving fast on the path of normalisation, he said.

In reply to a query, Khan said that cross-investment between the two counties would amount to $2 billion in the next two years, while Libya has shown interest to invest in the windmill sector.

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Italy keen to import skilled manpower from Pakistan: Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Labour and Manpower, Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah on Tuesday said Pakistan had received a big demand of skilled workers from Italy and in this regard MoU would be signed soon.
The minister expressed these views after meeting with a 6-member Italian delegation who met the minister in his office today and exchange views on import of manpower from Pakistan.
The Italian delegation was headed by its Foreign Minister, Prof. Gianni DE Michelis, who was also the President of IPALMO, a prominent Italian institute of Internal Policies and Economics.
The Federal Minister for Labour and Manpower appraised the delegation that Pakistan was ready to sign MoU with the government of Italy to streamlining workers flow from Pakistan to work in Italy.
Regarding training programme, the minister expressed that Pakistan keenly desire to meet manpower requirements of Italy and had evolved excellent training facilities in technical and professional fields.
He discussed that Pakistan would supply different categories of skilled and unskilled workers for inclusion in Italy’s seasonal workers scheme on regular footing and under specific quota, which could bring economic dividend to Pakistan and Italy.
Pakistan was exporting its manpower to different countries of the world since 1971. About 4.7 million workers of various categories had been preceded abroad for employment from 1971 to 2008.
Head of Delegation Prof. Gianni DE Michelis had expressed that Pakistan and Italy enjoyed cordial and friendly relations and share commonality of perception on important international issues of mutual interest. “Our cordial relations are characterized by regular exchange of higher level visits.”

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