ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has formally requested Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to enhance the quota of Pakistani workforce in multi-billion dollars’ project of New Taif City. “Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari requested the Saudi authorities to enhance Pakistani manpower’s quota in New Taif Project,” an official source in the ministry told APP on Tuesday. The official said the request was formally conveyed by the special assistant in his recent visit to Saudi Arabia where he held discussion with Saudi authorities to explore new avenues for bolstering Pakistani manpower’s export to Saudi Arabia. He said the project was aimed at establishing new airport, developing Okaz City, establishing technical oasis, residential areas, university and industrial city in New Taif. The official said Saudi Arabia had also extended an offer for Pakistani manpower’s export through ‘Musaned’- a digital platform launched by Saudi Arabia to facilitate laborer recruitment process and ensure their rights protection. Pakistan would send its workforce to Saudi Arabia through ‘Musaned’ shortly as the process would take some months, he added. Besides Saudi Arabia, he said the Overseas Ministry was planning to link up its digital portal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for setting up direct link between its workforce and foreign employers. The move would eventually minimize the middle-man’s role in overseas employment andhelp the country to train its workforce as per the international markets’ demand, he added. He said UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) had offered its labour market’s database access to Pakistan which would provide up-dated information of job opportunities in the Emirates. The official said Pakistan was ready to connect its own job portal with the UAE’s that would offer more and better job opportunities to Pakistani youth. He said the MOHRE had also agreed to activate the joint committee, formed for implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding recently signed to ensure the protection of Pakistani workers’ rights and resolving their legal job disputes in the Emirates. According to the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, as many as 568,464 Pakistanis had been registered for overseas employment from September 2018 to September 2019. Similarly, some 424,867 went abroad for various job assignments during the corresponding period of 2017.