ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia is encouraging companies in the Kingdom to recruit more Pakistani nationals, the chairman of an overseas employment recruitment firm said this week, as Islamabad and Riyadh strengthen economic coordination amid regional tensions.

Saudi Arabia remains by far the largest destination for Pakistani workers, as per official data. The Kingdom accounted for nearly 65 percent of the country’s total overseas employment registrations from January 2024 and September 2026.

Data from the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BE&OE) shows that more than 1.21 million of the 1.87 million Pakistanis who registered for jobs abroad, during the same period, were destined for jobs in the Kingdom.

Issam Baig, chairman of Jan Mohammad & Sons, said during his recent visits to Riyadh and Jeddah, he met executives of several major Saudi companies. These executives told him that they had been asked by Saudi authorities to accommodate more Pakistani workers.

“Over the past year, I have met the top CEOs of companies that we recruit for in Saudi Arabia,” Baig told Arab News on Wednesday. “And they have told us that they have been told and pushed by Riyadh and their ministries to accommodate more Pakistanis.”

He said three to four major Saudi companies had conveyed similar messages, describing the development as a positive sign for Pakistan-Saudi Arabia’s bilateral ties and employment opportunities for Pakistani citizens.

“Three or four big companies said they had been officially encouraged to recruit more Pakistani workforce from Pakistan,” he said.

Baig said this reflected the existing close relationship between the two countries, adding that Pakistan needed to ensure the nationals it sends abroad for work meet their employers’ expectations.

“I think it is a very positive thing from Riyadh, and we should uphold that trust by sending them quality manpower,” he said.

Pakistan registered 258,178 workers for employment in Saudi Arabia between January and September 2026, compared to 530,437 during 2025, according to data by the BE&OE.

The 2026 figure covers only the first nine months of the year, while the 2025 figures comprise registrations during the entire 12 months of the previous year. Registrations for Saudi Arabia have remained high in recent years, rising from 426,951 in 2023 to 452,648 in 2024 and 530,437 in 2025, according to the bureau.

A senior BE&OE official told Arab News that the government was assessing developments in the Middle East to better understand recent overseas employment trends and prepare future projections.

Pakistan enjoys cordial ties with Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, which employ millions of Pakistanis and serve as a major source of foreign currency for the cash-strapped nation.

Pakistan received a record $41.6 billion in workers’ remittances in the fiscal year ending June 2026, according to central bank data.

In recent years, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have enhanced cooperation in defense, business, economy, livestock, tourism and other sectors. The two nations signed a bilateral defense pact in September 2025 and in August this year, a trilateral defense pact that also involves Turkiye.

In October, both nations agreed to launch an Economic Cooperation Framework to boost bilateral trade and investment ties. This was on top of the 34 MoUs signed between Pakistani and Saudi businesses in October 2024 worth $2.8 billion.