Daily Times

All governments’ in Pakistan whether existing or previous have been interested to get Pakistani expats invest in their homeland. The purpose was to bring back the money the governments considered belonging to Pakistan and have rather been an easy interest free investment. However, we have only few examples of investments at the scale, which could really change the situation. Governments have been assigning value to Pakistani expats in terms of dollars, however, they have failed to assess their worth. Many Pakistani expats have a high level of soft and technical skills and wholeheartedly wish to contribute to the development of the nation. However, to date no such chance has officially been provided to them nor have they been made part of the development strategy.

Developing countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and China, are the major contributors of highly skilled migrant workers. Pakistan comes up with massive diaspora numbers reaching almost to seven million, who are scattered all over the world. Most of them have moved to the UK, United States (US) and Canada to start a new life. Others have taken up temporary work in the Middle East (ME)/Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to earn their livelihood. Cumulatively, overseas Pakistanis contribute around 5 percent of Pakistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through remittances i.e., around US$ 13 billion per annum. However, to seek fruitful investments and to utilize the knowledge of highly skilled expats, is quite a difficult task. Despite this, there are various challenges expatriates and their children have to encounter while returning to their home country; such as inadequate employment opportunities, citizenship, religion, cultural values and societal pressure, it is an interesting fact that most Pakistanis become more patriotic after leaving the country. It also encompasses social conditions, provision of better opportunities to extract their expertise.

There is engagement with diaspora on two fronts such as diaspora to nation state – attracting Chinese talent abroad by offering one to five-year visas, research sponsorships, and schemes such as 2004 Green Card programme, 2006 programme, 2008 – 1000 Talents Scheme’. Furthermore, they also have Industrial parks for returnees; and they are keen to bring the nation state to the diaspora by proposing delegation exchanges, cultural promotions, and political motivations

Many governments around the globe are striving hard to reverse the ‘brain drain’ from a few decades ago. The Chinese Model of Diaspora Management points out that the new migrants are the focus of Chinese policies. There is engagement with diaspora on two fronts such as diaspora to nation state – attracting Chinese talent abroad by offering one to five-year visas, research sponsorships, and schemes such as 2004 Green Card programme, 2006 programme, 2008 – 1000 Talents Scheme’. Furthermore, they also have Industrial parks for returnees; and they are keen to bring the nation state to the diaspora by proposing delegation exchanges, cultural promotions, and political motivations.

Remittance, investment in real estate and industry are hard-core fields where Pakistani expats can choose to invest. However, a much more important issue is to involve them with their skills for the development of the country. Most of the previous governments in Pakistan sought foreign investments especially from overseas Pakistanis. The purpose was to save existing foreign reserves within the country and at the same time develop infrastructure. However, many Pakistanis enjoy a high level of professional respect abroad and they possess the key to human development in their home country. Pakistan government must devise a methodology to attract such Pakistani expats and gain from their skills and experiences.

Pakistani expats work in diverse fields and add to the community they are members of. In line with the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of ‘Human Development‘, there is a great potential to involve these expats for capacity building of their fellow countrymen.

Once a great successful man told me that all the developments in America are due to exposure. Same is true for any community. We clearly know that there is a dire lack of civic and environmental sense in our society. The major reason behind it, is not the lack of education but lack of exposure. Our people who are ready to break any law within the country become the most law-abiding people when found in developed countries. The Pakistani expats with their higher level of civic sense can help to transform our society.

To get the Pakistani expats add to human and infrastructural development in Pakistan, voluntary involvement, requirement based consultancy and brain replenishment programs can be used.

In voluntary involvement, a lot of Pakistani expats may not need financial rewards for their work for the motherland and wish to contribute towards her development. These people can be approached for Voluntary Work (1 week to 1 month) depending upon their own availability and experiences, (an online registration system might be developed). The activities may include capacity building initiatives or highly technical input required at a critical stage of a certain project.

Second, is requirement based consultancy,  in this model Pakistani professional expats could be engaged as freelance consultants on much longer projects. They would be paid compatible remunerations for their skilled input. Such projects may involve capacity building, policymaking, organizational change management or infrastructure projects where full-time involvement is not required.

Lastly, we can also use the brain replenishment program. In this program, highly skilled Pakistani expats could be offered full time jobs or long-term contracts to attract them to move back to the motherland . At policy levels, such professionals might be given incentives like tax incentives to make the offer more attractive.

A dedicated and empowered cell established at the PM’s office should coordinate and manage any initiative involving Pakistani expats. It should work closely with all concerned ministries. It should compile data of Pakistani expats, identify opportunities in consultation with P&D Departments, liaison with expats, and secure their services. The said unit must also assist them during service delivery in Pakistan and should not leave them alone to cope with the existing system.

The writer is working as a senior specialist at the Urban Unit Lahore. He has studied and worked in fields of Engineering, Public Health, Ecology, Disaster Management, Change Management and Energy Management. He is especially interested in circular economy and climate change.
Email: azharuup@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, October 20^th 2018.