Going to economic basketcases like Greece is not taking you anywhere
Can Pakistan’s brain drain be reversed?
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Going to economic basketcases like Greece is not taking you anywhere
N.Siddiqui
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Germany is pumping in big money in Greece economy, a payback for Nazi crime it seems. Also many EU countries are bailing Greece out or has been bailed out now...
Greece is being used as a launching pad to move to other countries because of EU. Also when a country is in turmoil...for some investors this could be the best of time.
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...reece-2015-economic-marshall-plan-debt-relief
MastanKhan
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https://tribune.com.pk/story/1427498/can-pakistans-brain-drain-reversed/
By Naveed Ahmad
Published: June 5, 2017
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PHOTO: REUTERS
DOHA: The best and the brightest have been looking outwards for decades. Pakistani politicians, generals and bureaucrats – the champions of patriotism – invariably prefer their children to study and settle abroad. The middle class follows suit.
The lower middle class pays hefty amounts to human traffickers to reach Europe via Iran and Turkey or to reach Australia via Thailand and Indonesia.
Pakistani workers ‘regret’ migrating to Greece
Various categories of economic migrants include highly skilled professionals ranging from scientists to surgeons and physicians to engineers and software developers. In a normal world, such migration is categorised as brain drain. This is in short the story of Pakistan’s manpower migration.
Gallup Pakistan, in its survey last year, found that more than two-thirds of Pakistan’s adult population aspires to leave the country for work with half of them leaving for good. The figure comes in sharp contrast with Gallup’s 1984 study that found only 17% Pakistanis wanting employment abroad. Over the past three decades, the discontent level for livelihood within adult population soared by 50%.
Translating the trend in real numbers, the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development states that around 2.765 million people left Pakistan over the last five years for livelihood, a figure that can’t even be matched by high discontent Muslim countries like Egypt. Over 6 million Pakistanis migrated from the country over the last two decades, notwithstanding the odds brought forth by post-9/11 visa restrictions.
With the export-import balances to Pakistan’s perpetual disadvantage, Islamabad’s reliance on foreign remittances is tantamount to being addictive. The higher the expatriate Pakistanis, the greater would be the remittances. It’s time for a spoiler alert since remittances fell by nearly 2% during the last 10 months, mainly from the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Donald Trump’s immigrant phobia, coupled with Brexit-fever in the UK, pushed the expatriates in a saving mode, while falling oil prices shrank the spending power of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.
Remittances from Saudi Arabia declined 5.6% to $3.70 billion, United Arab Emirates 1.8% to $2.44 billion and 1.7% to $1.34 billion from other nations of the GCC. The remittances may not beat the record $19.9 billion in 2015-16 State Bank of Pakistan had recorded till June 30, 2016.
Ready for reverse brain drain
What could be better than skilled professionals returning to Pakistan with valuable foreign experience and significant savings? Given the lack of public sector reforms, power cuts and red-tapism coupled with corruption, it’s a high-risk proposition. However, driven by a motivation to serve the country and making a name for themselves, there is a steady stream of patriotic investors.
Asad Badruddin, in a recent article in Stanford Social Innovation, noted that around 5,000 graduates return to Pakistan from universities in the UK, the US and Canada every year. Badruddin himself leads a movement – Pakathon – that aims to reinvest the country’s expatriate human resource back home.
Pakathon’s Returner’s Program is designed to empower expatriates “who want to launch projects in Pakistan by connecting them to funding, resources and a community of like-minded change-makers”. The movement aims to connect the returning citizens with “accelerator programs operating in Pakistan”.
Such initiatives feed into other parallel movements in the same direction aspiring to spearhead Pakistan into advanced economies using smart technologies and social innovations.
The phenomenon of teaming up of foreign-experienced Pakistan and unemployed education youth has marginal role of Pakistan’s state-run institution, which largely preserves old-fashioned officialdom than innovation and modernity.
Notwithstanding the sincerity of purpose, the idea of reverse brain drain largely remains platonic. The professionals come at their own risk with an undated return ticket as a backup option. While the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) does raise hopes for high-skilled foreign-experienced professionals’ consumption, the initial results have been disappointing.
The Planning Commission has failed to impress upon the finance ministry in its bid to start some ground-breaking initiatives.
The future is the game
With the age of robots and high-performance mechanised machinery becoming more affordable and widespread, the demand for hardworking construction worker, house-worker and semi-skilled technician will diminish in the GCC market.
For labour export purposes, Pakistan requisites a supply chain of self-confident, well-groomed and multilingual proficient professionals ranging from nurse to surgeons and software engineers to scientists.
The GCC countries diversifying away from reliance on oil can thus continue to be the main source of the country’s priceless foreign remittances.
As much as Pakistan needs foreign remittances to strengthen its economy otherwise hampered by low-tax collection and exponentially high imports, the society can’t afford to lose surgeons, physicians and scientists.
Govt failed Pakistanis in foreign prisons
Thanks to the state’s short-sighted policy of relying on the expatriates’ remittances and ignoring the intellectual resources they may invest in the country, the outward flow of highly-skilled Pakistanis has grown against all odds.
Given conservative or hyper-nationalistic policies in the US and the UK, a good number of expatriate Pakistanis must be weighing alternate options. Islamabad must come forward with bold incentives for its critical mass borrowed to the west for years and decades.
The writer is a Pakistani investigative journalist and academic with extensive reporting experience in the Middle East and North Africa. He is based in Doha and Istanbul and tweets @naveed360
Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2017.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1427498/can-pakistans-brain-drain-reversed/
Hi,
Pakistan does not need its ex-pats---it only needs our money.
Pakistani courts just recently took away the rights of those pakistanis who held dual citizenship to stand for an elected office or a govt office.
This right was given to us by the forefathers---the pioneers involved in the freedom of the nation.
It was taken away by the connivance of the local illiterate pakistani politicians and corrupt judge.
The local politicians are afraid of the changes the expats would bring to the nation like EDUCATION---BILL OF RIGHTS---NO POLICE STATE---NO CORRUPTION and all the good things that makes and build the character of a nation.
why usa will give money to pakistan?
all the rich countreis witch import brains from all over the world usa switzerland uk sweden germany...
Post Colonnial
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for majority of expats, whether India or Pakistani, once they are used to living in the west, it is impossible to adjust to the corruption, pettiness and lawlessness embedded inti the day to day living of their country of origin. Don't knwo about Pakitsan, but in spite of this lousy desi scene, some do try - to come back, start a business, etc and there has been limited success.
My personal experience - 2011-2012 : I tried to create a mid-layer infratech. Capital was in place both domestic and fdi; technology was ready and proven. The desi partner (who is already a well established $650M biz house) had all the right contacts we needed for maneuvering the process. YET we had spent > 12 months and still there were still NOCs to obtain, 'proof of technology' needed to be give to jackasses who can't even read english - Finally we realized all these shenanigans was caused by the currently entrenched local contractor company which was in cahoots with the govt agencies! We had enough and withdrew.
So don't blame the leaders - corruption is entrenched within the officialdom and among the people. As long as even middle-class people seek to contantly cut corners instead of taking a stand, India will not get to the next level in quality of life. One Modi cannot change it, however visionary and charismatic he is.
From what I have read and extrapolated from, I have a view that Pakistan has pretty much the same problem plus a few others such as more virulent religious extremism, culture of military insubordination and larger feudal mentality. So any Pakistani expat that actually returns on his own and established a successful venture there should be doubly commended.
My personal experience - 2011-2012 : I tried to create a mid-layer infratech. Capital was in place both domestic and fdi; technology was ready and proven. The desi partner (who is already a well established $650M biz house) had all the right contacts we needed for maneuvering the process. YET we had spent > 12 months and still there were still NOCs to obtain, 'proof of technology' needed to be give to jackasses who can't even read english - Finally we realized all these shenanigans was caused by the currently entrenched local contractor company which was in cahoots with the govt agencies! We had enough and withdrew.
So don't blame the leaders - corruption is entrenched within the officialdom and among the people. As long as even middle-class people seek to contantly cut corners instead of taking a stand, India will not get to the next level in quality of life. One Modi cannot change it, however visionary and charismatic he is.
From what I have read and extrapolated from, I have a view that Pakistan has pretty much the same problem plus a few others such as more virulent religious extremism, culture of military insubordination and larger feudal mentality. So any Pakistani expat that actually returns on his own and established a successful venture there should be doubly commended.
BATMAN
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Stop digging deeper into Pakistan, and mind your own business.
How old are you?
why do you want to know?
BATMAN
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You lack basic understanding of basic things, how this world works.
We have millions of expats in Middleast and they send $billions home... you can't call it Saudi aid or UAE aid.
In similar way when American visit Pakistan and pay taxi bill, that is also not aid irrespective how much Indians or American defence secretary call it aid.
There are more technocrats in middleast and they regularly come back, so we are not really short on brain drain.
Azadkashmir
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Am with you bro. They loot you while praying to god at the same time. The funny thing is westerners eurpeans are treated like royalty and no harrasment but western paks will be held up at airport to pay bribes and blackmailed.
Then they are looted on the streets, then it thier own relatives. The shop owners will rob you too, including some fake pir sab that can cure any disease even though pakistan has enuff people with illnesses. lets not forget the uncle police officer he wants his share too. You will get ocasional visit from masalis and long lost relatives that need money for operation even though they are much healthier than you.
every develop country have brain drain in some level some time its for few years and some time they dont back cause pakistan cant pay the sallries other countries offer and also want better life
Pakistani E
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And to top it all up, they will turn around and accuse Expat Pakistanis of abandoning Pakistan!
Thəorətic Muslim
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Perhaps the expats like ourselves should hold on to our money. Nothing wrong with those in the Gulf States to send it back since they usually dont have access to ownership but those of us in the West can make a statement.
True, but unlike your bollywood we aren't brainwashed into believing every white guy can speak hindi/urdu. Nor do we feel the need to use it when speaking with others at work. Or the desire to let everyone know we're Indian as a vegetarian feels the burning urge.
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Using Greece as a stepping stone is fine. Settling down in Greece is not going help Pakistani
Greece is a great country to visit
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