KARACHI: Pakistan on Wednesday formally assumed the chairmanship of Abu Dhabi Dialogue, a communication and cooperation forum between Asian states of labor origin and destination, as the country’s minister for industries announced that Pakistan’s primary focus would be on legal immigration, job security and universal skill development.
The forum, which was established in 2008, comprises twelve member states of the Colombo Process and six Gulf nations of destination as well as Malaysia.
Pakistan started participating in ADD consultations in 2016, though this is the first time it will lead the forum.
The country’s minister for industries and production Khusro Bakhtyar, who is leading Pakistan’s delegation at the forum in Dubai, formally assumed ADD’s charimanship for a period of two years starting October 27.
“He [Bakhtyar] stressed the need for special focus on the skill upgradation of the available work force to meet the new requirements,” said a statement issued by the ministry of industries and production. “For that, he proposed collective agreement upon some mutually accepted standards and certification with the help of international stakeholders.”
ADD aims to enable safe, orderly and regular labor migration in some of the world’s largest temporary labor migration corridors.
In his address, Bakhtyar also expressed his gratitude to the government of the United Arab Emirates for hosting the summit and thanked all the member states for electing Pakistan to chair the forum.
“Our migrant workers would bring pride to our nation and are considered an effective bridge between their countries of destination and Pakistan,” he said.
The minister also urged the participants of the event to make “serious efforts to bridge the gaps through encouragement of legal migration and policy level support to new migrants to save innocent people from exploiters and traffickers,” the statement added.
