Karachi, August 24, 2022 (PPI-OT):The Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs and Minister of State, Ms. Shaza Fatima Khawaja, visited the OICCI on August 23, 2022, to conduct a Consultative Session on National Youth Employment Policy (NYEP) with selected OICCI members. She was accompanied by Dr. M. Ali Malik, Deputy Secretary; Atif Mahmood – Technical Head; Arif Mukhtar, Technical Advisor; and Rana Dilshad, PSO to the minister.
Secretary General/CE OICCI, M. Abdul Aleem, welcomed the guests and gave a brief introduction of the chamber. There was a round of introduction of the attendees. OICCI members included Sardar M. Abubakr from Mobilink Bank; Fatima Arshad from Unilever; and Mehar Younus from Meezan Bank.
SAPM on Youth Affairs briefed that the youth program was started in 2013 and focused on loans for young entrepreneurs, trainings, internships, and laptop scheme. She said that there is an issue of unemployment for youth and there is a gap in market demand and skills of the youth that can be mitigated by specially designed trainings and internships of youth in leading companies of Pakistan. The main purpose of the youth program is to connect the private sector with the young talent and industry should directly train and mentor them according to the skills requirements.
Secretary General/CE OICCI, M. Abdul Aleem, highlighted that there is a huge potential in IT exports from Pakistan and OICCI is also preparing a digital report on this subject. OICCI members advised the SAPM to focus on design thinking for young entrepreneurs and emerging technologies for training like Web 3.0, NFTs, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence etc. so the youth is trained on high paying skills.
There was also a suggestion of investors’ forum where investors can connect with startups and find the right talent. There is a massive talent in rural and underdeveloped areas, but it is necessary that they are targeted and brought into the limelight for the industry. The SAPM liked the suggestions and the meeting concluded on the vote of thanks.
For more information, contact:
Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI)
Chamber of Commerce Building, Talpur Road, P.O. Box 4833,
Karachi – 74000, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-32410814-5
Fax: +92-21-32427315
Email: info@oicci.org
Website: http://oicci.org/