Good news from Italy

This scheme would allow Pakistan to ensure some of its labour force can find gainful employment in the European nation

Amid all doom and gloom in the background, there is finally a meagre bit of good news. After a gap of two years, the Italian government has finally reopened seasonal and non-seasonal work visas for Pakistani nationals willing to avail the opportunity. The visas are offered as part of a scheme called Decreto Flussi that aims to plug the gaps in labour in Italy’s agriculture, tourism, construction and freight-forwarding sectors. It also provides foreign nationals from a specific list of countries residing in Italy the opportunity to regularise their stay. For Pakistanis, up to 30,000 work visas will be available for the 2020-21 fiscal year under the scheme.

The move comes as a result of sustained effort on the part of Pakistan’s embassy in Rome and for that they and the country’s Foreign Office must be commended. It is especially welcome considering the mass exodus of foreign workers the novel coronavirus pandemic has triggered elsewhere in the world.

At a time when Pakistan struggles with the dual challenges of rising inflation and unemployment, those who find themselves in the country’s most vulnerable segments of population can use all the help they can get.

A scheme like this would allow Pakistan to ensure some of its labour force can find gainful employment in the European nation. While on its own the move may not have a significant impact, the development is certainly one that with the right attitude and approach can be expanded upon. Pakistani workers abroad contribute massively to their country’s economy in the form of remittances as well. Our Foreign Office must surely build on this success and explore similar arrangements with other nations around the world as well. The one resource we have in ample abundance is human resource. Our government would do well to tap it by developing it further through better education, wide array of trainings and exchange programmes to name a few.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2020.

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