The government of Japan on Monday signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with the government of Pakistan regarding the ‘Specified Skilled Workers’, which aims at paving the way for skilled Pak, istani workers to get employment opportunities in Japan under the cooperation framework after passing the required examination.
Pakistan is among the top 10 countries where Japan is looking to hire skilled human resource during the second phase of its policy. Japan has already signed a similar memorandum of cooperation with 10 countries, including Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
It is pertinent to mention here that the government of Japan has created a new ‘Status of Residence’ for specific skilled workers which became effective on April 1, 2019. For the purpose, it has amended the ‘Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act’ and took comprehensive measures for the acceptance of foreign workers. The policy has been introduced to accept foreign nationals who possess certain expertise and skills in specified 14 fields as Japan is facing serious shortage of labour due to its ageing society. Japan expects to hire services of 340,000 skilled workers across the world during the next five years but there is no country-specific quota marked for it.
Under the agreement, Pakistani workers can get jobs in Japan in 14 specified fields
On Monday, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan Matsuda Kuninori and Federal Secretary of Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Aamir Hasan signed the memorandum for cooperation.Special Advisor for Foreign Affairs to President Abe Shinzo of Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) Sonoura Kentaro, who was in Pakistan on a two-day visit, also witnessed the signing ceremony.
Under this policy, all foreign skilled workers entering Japan for employment will have to pass the skills examination and the Japanese basic language test before signing the employment contract with the accepting organisation. This MoC was signed in order to prevent the intervention by intermediary business operators. At the ceremony, Matsuda Kuninori said, “This cooperation will provide job opportunities for Pakistani workers and the framework will create new opportunities for Japan-Pakistan cooperation including education, business and tourism. I hope many talented Pakistani workers will get an opportunity to work in Japan through this cooperation framework.”
The 14 specified fields for skilled workers include: nursing care, building cleaning management, forges and foundries, machine parts and tooling industries, electric, electronics and information industries, construction industry, shipbuilding/ship machinery industry, automobile maintenance, aviation industry, accommodation industry, agriculture, fishery and aquaculture, manufacture of food and beverages and food service industry.
