FPCCI Acting President Javd Iqbal Chaudhry in a statement said there was a need to launch a national technical education program to produce skilled labour to meet the requirement of industries as well as to cater for the growing need of the Arab and Gulf countries.

He was of the view that one way of attracting foreign investment was to ensure availability of skilled labour in the vicinity of the industrial zones and that could be achieved by introducing technical institutes equipped with modern amenities and a team of professionals to take care of the students.

He said human capital was the key element in promoting the services sector and with the information and communication technology (ICT) coming up as a potential economic growth field there was a need to exploit its potentials for putting Pakistan’s economy on a high-growth trajectory.

He said by coming up with right policies to tap the international market worth $4 trillion, the country’s economy could be turned around on top of creating millions of jobs as envisioned by the prime minister in its manifesto.

Keeping in view the opportunities coming up with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, he pointed out that the demand for skilled labour and IT professional would increase manifold and it would be appropriate to fill the requirements from within the country for which we need a chain of vocational training centres in the country.

He said with the provisioning of better technical training facilities the country would be able to export of skilled labour and thereby earn foreign exchange.