KARACHI: Officials from Pakistan and Kazakhstan discussed joint venture opportunities to enhance bilateral trade through the Karachi and Gwadar seaports, Pakistan’s maritime affairs ministry said on Tuesday amid Islamabad’s push to enhance its role as a regional transit hub. 

Pakistan has recently sought to leverage its strategic location to connect landlocked Central Asian states to Asia. Islamabad is pursuing a “Vision Central Asia” policy based on improving bilateral cooperation in politics, trade, investment, energy and connectivity, security and people-to-people contact with Central Asian Republics. 

Pakistan’s Maritime Affairs Minister Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry met Kazakh Ambassador Yerzhan Kistafin in Islamabad, with the two sides expressing interest in promoting bilateral cooperation, the Pakistani ministry said.

“Minister Chaudhry suggested initiating joint ventures at the Karachi and Gwadar ports, highlighting potential partnerships within Gwadar’s free zones,” the maritime affairs ministry said in a statement. “These efforts are intended to utilize Pakistan’s strategic port infrastructure to enhance trade access for Kazakhstan, a landlocked nation seeking wider maritime connectivity.”

Kistafin said Kazakhstan wanted to use Pakistan’s seaports as transit hubs for the Central Asian region, the statement said. The Kazakh official said a ministerial-level delegation led by his country’s communication minister, is scheduled to visit Pakistan “soon.” 

The delegation would conduct in-depth discussions with Chaudhry to explore further cooperation in maritime trade and logistics, the Pakistani ministry said. 

Chaudhry highlighted the role of Pakistani ports as “gateways” providing direct access to Central Asian countries to the Arabian Gulf, African and Southeast Asian markets.

He said these efforts would boost trade connectivity across the continent, underscoring Pakistan’s commitment to deepening economic ties through maritime channels.

Karachi and Gwadar are Pakistan’s most vital seaports, which Islamabad hopes can serve as gateways for international trade and regional connectivity. 

The southern Karachi city handles the majority of Pakistan’s imports and exports while Gwadar, located near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, offers traders direct access to the Arabian Sea. It is central to regional trade routes, including the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. 

Pakistan seeks to enhance the performance of the two crucial ports in its bid to boost its fragile $350 billion economy. 

QUETTA: Pakistan’s impoverished Balochistan province has helped 180 youths secure jobs in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in less than a year through a fresh skills development and jobs initiative, the program’s managing director confirmed recently.

The Balochistan Technical Education & Vocational Training Authority (B-TEVTA) is an apex provincial body that regulates, promotes and finances the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector in the province. 

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province by land yet its most backward by almost all social and economic indicators. The province has been reeling from a low-level insurgency for decades, launched by separatist militants who accuse the center of depriving locals of a share of Balochistan’s mineral resources. Islamabad denies the allegations. 

B-TEVTA launched a jobs program in October 2024 to help skilled, young candidates secure jobs in foreign countries, mainly Saudi Arabia. Tariq Javed Mengal, B-TEVTA’s managing director, told Arab News the body received 12,826 applications on its online portal when the foreign jobs initiative was announced last year. Only 6,000 candidates were screened and selected by B-TEVTA for various skills development courses. 

“Presently, we have placed 180 candidates in Gulf countries,” Mengal said on Saturday. “Among [them] 150 are now working in Saudi Arabia.” 

Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE remain among the top preferred destinations for Pakistan’s labor force, who travel abroad in search of better work opportunities. 

According to Pakistan’s Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, Saudi Arabia remained the leading destination for Pakistani migrant workers in 2025. Around 284,532 Pakistanis registered for employment in the Kingdom during the first seven months of this year.

Mengal, who visited Saudi Arabia from Aug. 5-20, was confident that due to the rapid development undertaken under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 program, the Kingdom would emerge as the “leader” of the Middle East. 

“At the moment, there are ample job opportunities in Saudi Arabia, and we should be ready to support them with skilled human resources,” Mengal said. “Starting from blue-collar jobs to white-collar jobs.”

‘UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY’

Pakistani workers send billions of dollars in remittances from abroad every year. These remittances serve as a vital lifeline for the cash-strapped country’s economy that frequently relies on the International Monetary Fund’s financial bailouts. 

Pakistan received $3.2 billion in remittances during July, with Saudi Arabia remaining the top contributor with $823.7 million.

Muhammad Faris, 29, worked as a laborer since he was a child in Balochistan’s remote Kech district bordering Iran. 

Now, he is preparing to leave for Qatar after getting selected under B-TEVTA’s foreign jobs initiative under the “general labor” category.

Faris says the lack of work opportunities in Balochistan pushed him to apply for B-TEVTA’s program.

“This is a unique opportunity if we take advantage of this initiative,” he told Arab News. “Arab countries have similar religion and culture to ours, the way we dress and eat.

“Thus, the majority of the youth in Balochistan focus on working there,” he added. 

Muhammad Haroon, 25, is another youth from Balochistan’s Chaman town bordering Afghanistan, secured a job in a Dubai restaurant.

Haroon, who worked as a water in Chaman and Quetta previously, termed the initiative as “suitable” for middle-class and lower-middle-class youths of Balochistan.

“If we had gone abroad on our own expense, it would have cost us lots of money,” Haroon told Arab News. 

He said the B-TEVTA training program proved useful in teaching the trainees the basics of the Arabic language.

“We were also taught how to introduce ourselves in Arabic, how to count,” Haroon said. “We were thoroughly guided on everything, including how to maintain conduct with people there.”

Mengal said Saudi companies were interested in hiring Pakistani skilled workers, especially those from Balochistan. He said some of the candidates selected through B-TEVTA’s program had secured jobs in the hospitality sector, while others secured employment in Aramco’s subsidiary companies. 

“Now, we are entering the second phase of this program,” Mengal said. “And we want the maximum number of youth to participate in this initiative.”

Mengal said the second phase of the program would involve the provincial government finding jobs in the US, UK, Japan and Korea for the youth of Balochistan. He said B-TEVTA has received proposals from different firms based in these countries, who are looking for skilled laborers from Pakistan.