Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed the authorities concerned to immediately initiate the process of establishing the Pakistan Skill Company and Pakistan Skill Development Fund to unify the technical and vocational education countrywide and provide better employment to Pakistani workers abroad.

The prime minister, chairing a high-level meeting to review the matters of the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Manpower and National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC), decided to introduce reforms in the said organisations.

He instructed to further activate the NAVVTC to provide world-class technical and vocational training to the young workforce and also called for ensuring the globally renowned and international certifications in all technical fields.

The prime minister also emphasised the collaboration between the center and provinces to elevate the quality of Pakistan’s technical manpower and human resource development.

He called for establishing an integrated system of regulating the manpower equipped with the best and world-class professional technical skills. Besides, in coordination with NADRA, NAVTTC and all the provincial institutions, a database of manpower in the country and abroad should be developed, he added.

Stressing the need for implementing the technical and vocational training plans, the prime minister also directed to reform the license regime of the companies engaged in employment of Pakistani skilled and technical workforce abroad.

He said the individuals and companies should be identified those are found involved in defrauding the people and inflicting financial financial losses besides defaming Pakistan internationally.

Prime Minister Shehbaz also instructed to ensure meritocracy and transparency in the posting of community welfare attaches in the Pakistani missions abroad.

He also directed to form a committee mandated to recommend measures for reforms in the vocational and technical training sectors as well as the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Manpower.

During the briefing, the prime minister was informed about the steps taken by NAVTTC regarding the vocational and technical training of the workforce in Pakistan. It was told that NAVTTC will provide vocational and technical training to 60,000 people this year, while the figure will rise to 0.6 million in the next three years, following the reforms.

It was told that exchange of information about employment opportunities and required skills from foreign countries was being ensured and that data of manpower consumption was also being obtained from the local industry.

The meeting was told that NAVTTC had made certification of male and female students from internationally renowned institutes mandatory to ensure global standards of vocational and technical training. It was told that as per the prime minister’s directives, not only a quota has been allocated for the youth of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir at the federal level but also a separate program was being launched for their special training starting June this year.

Federal ministers Ahad Khan Cheema and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, State Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Chairman of PM Youth Program Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan, Coordinator to PM Rana Ehsan Afzal, SIFC National Coordinator Lt. General Sarfaraz Ahmed, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Jahanzeb Khan and senior officers attended the meeting.