ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has instructed all the embassies of Pakistan around the world to make greater efforts to provide job opportunities to the workforce of Pakistan, especially its youth. While chairing a special meeting of Pakistan’s overseas employment embassies, PM Shehbaz at the PM House on Monday, the Prime Minister also made instructions to digitalize the immigration system of Pakistan completely, indicating the intention of making the infrastructure more modern by which millions of Pakistanis get employment abroad.
It was a special meeting of Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis, NAVTTC, and PM Youth Program, the three organizations responsible for developing skills and providing overseas jobs to the youth of Pakistan.
Three Institutions with the Same Goal
The Pakistan overseas employment embassies according to the directive by Prime Minister Shehbaz should perform the following duties in the ecosystem of overseas employment of Pakistanis:
- Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis: coordination with embassies in the process of identification, negotiation and signing employment contracts in host countries
- NAVTTC: provide training, language courses and internationally accredited certifications to help Pakistani citizens compete in international labor market
- PM Youth Programme: young Pakistanis, in particular, would have access to the training and overseas employment opportunities created
“The country’s workforce was very skilled and the government was doing all it could do to provide internationally competitive education and job opportunities.”
PM Shehbaz Sharif
Digital Immigration Long Overdue and Required
The requirement that the entire Pakistani immigration system be digitized solves one of the major points of contention in the foreign worker placement process. The Pakistani immigration and emigration clearance system has been a manual process involving many paper-based steps that lead to delays, higher costs, and possibilities of corruption.
A digital immigration system allows workers to do all their documentation and clearance processes through a computerized system, thus making the system more efficient.
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The Importance of the Initiative for Pakistan’s Economic Development
The Pakistan overseas employment embassies PM Shehbaz initiative can be seen at the crossroads of two of the major economic concerns of Pakistan right now.
- Remittances: record amounts of USD4.25 billion worth of remittance receipts have flowed into Pakistan in May of 2026 alone, with a cumulative amount of USD38.1 billion during FY26. Every extra Pakistani labourer sent to work overseas is an additional remittance flow — the external account cushion which has been so essential for Pakistan’s economic stabilisation within the IMF program.
- Employment for youth: the vast majority of 240 million people living in Pakistan are young. The Pakistani labour market is unable to absorb additional labourers entering the job market as fast as it does now. Creating new avenues of overseas employment is not additional employment strategy for Pakistan; it is a structural necessity for the country, which will face more demographic pressures in the future.
Meeting between UN Secretary-General’s Candidate and PM Shehbaz
Meanwhile, in another meeting, which took place on Monday, PM Shehbaz held talks with María Fernanda Espinosa, who is one of the candidates running for the office of the UN Secretary-General, at the PM House.
The prime minister reaffirmed his country’s longstanding support for multilateralism and the United Nations organization and hoped that the future UN administration would be able to further promote the organization’s three main pillars – peace and security, development and human rights in an equal measure.
She thanked the prime minister and acknowledged Pakistan’s vital contributions to regional peace efforts in recent times and its involvement in the work of the UN for many decades past despite its own political and economic challenges.
Nayab Fatima is a media professional specializing in fact-based journalism, research, and analytical reporting on technology, telecom, aviation, and automobiles.
