Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Government of Federal Republic of Germany join-hands to facilitate returning overseas Pakistanis through signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The MoU is signed between The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) under the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development (MOP&HRD) here on Wednesday at the secretariat of the MOP&HRD in presence of Special Assistant to Prime Minister(SAPM)/Minister of State, MOP&HRD, Sayed Zulfiquar Abbas Bukhari, German Ambassador to Pakistan, his excellency Bernhard Schlagheck, Secretary Overseas Pakistanis & HRD, Dr. Muhammad Hashim Popalzai, Managing Director OPF, Dr. Amer Sheikh and Country Director of GIZ, Mr. Tobias Becker.
This partnership between GIZ and OPF will support returning Pakistanis to enhance their skill development for the purpose of re-integration in their home-country, accessing employment opportunities and/ or entrepreneurship opportunities/start-up support and hence supporting Pakistan’s social and economic fabric for gainful employment.
Speaking at the occasion, SAPM on OP&HRD, Sayed Zulfiquar Abbas Bukhari said that, ‘this partnership between German and Pakistani government is the start of new dawn in the arena of support to the Pakistanis returning migrants. Through this partnership, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) envisage to not only enhance the capacity of returning migrants but also creating a conducive support/advice system for their re-integration in the society. The said MoU has become all the more relevant in the background of the pandemic which has also affected Pakistani workforce who are returning from abroad, Bukhari said.
German Ambassador while sharing his impressions at the occasion said that Pak-German cooperation is a success story of more than 60-years of development cooperation. “We have been working with GoP for development in the areas of basic and technical and vocational education, police reforms, governance, energy, health and social protection, etc. Our cooperation in the area of skills and social development of the returning migrants through this initiative is the beginning of a new era of development and cooperation with Pakistan, H.E Schlagheck said.
This 3-million-euro project will be jointly implemented by GIZ and OPF from 2020 to 2023. Under this project, a Pakistani-German Facilitation & Reintegration Centre (FRC) will also be setup in Lahore, Punjab which will support in counselling and introduction to employment or entrepreneurship measures. This initiative will assist in providing employment to Pakistani workers, in Pakistan, thus reducing the unemployment ratio in the country.
