National conference on skills in demand in GCC countries: Challenges and opportunities for Pakistan

The ILO South Asia Labour Migration Governance Project (SALM), funded by the European Union, will in collaboration with the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, organize a national level conference on how to respond to the current and future skills and occupations in demand in GCC countries.

The ILO South Asia Labour Migration Governance Project (SALM), funded by the European Union, will in collaboration with the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, organize a national level conference on how to respond to the current and future skills and occupations in demand in GCC countries.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development and the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, the ILO Country Office for Pakistan will bring together government officials, policy makers, technical training institutes, provincial TEVTAs, overseas employment promoters, employers’ and workers’ representatives as well as non-governmental organizations from all over the country to initiate a discussion among key stakeholders and a process to develop a road map on how to respond to the current and future skills and occupations in demand in GCC countries.

The SALM project will present preliminary findings from a research on occupations and skills in demand in key countries of destination for low-skilled migrant workers from South Asia, including Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE till 2025. The conference will also provide an opportunity to the participants to understand the current TEVT situation in Pakistan and on-going reforms in the TEVT structure. Group consultations will help to design a road map to better match the GCC countries requirements in occupations, training, skill certification, skill passport and labour market information system improvements, to observe and respond timely to international labour market transformations.

The conference main objectives are to:
1. Build better knowledge of current and future labour market trends in GCC countries with a focus on the demand for low-skilled migrant workers;
2. Identify and discuss present and future challenges facing the TVET sector as regards the response to current and future demand of low-skilled migrant workers in the GCC;
3. Define and agree on appropriate policy and programmatic responses based on recommendations with a focus on education, training, certification and accreditation in Pakistan vis-à-vis skills recognition in GCC countries.
4. Establish linkages and coordination mechanism between technical training providers and overseas employment providers to ensure train manpower in marketable skills.