Belarus’ House of Representatives has ratified a memorandum of understanding between Belarus and Pakistan on cooperation in the field of labor and employment.
Presenting the ratification bill, deputy Halina Bialiaieva said that Belarus currently has 140,000 vacancies, with 60% of them in blue-collar professions. Pakistanis are already employed in construction, catering, and trade.
“The adoption of this memorandum will in turn help make the process of searching for the necessary qualified personnel and the employment process more organized, more transparent, and more controllable by state authorities,” she said.
According to the text of the document, the purpose of the memorandum is to establish a specific mechanism for cooperation and an effective process for sending qualified Pakistani workers to Belarus, as well as members of their families.
The competent authorities designated under the memorandum are Belarus’ Interior Ministry and Labor Ministry, as well as Pakistan’s Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.
Under the memorandum, Belarus “undertakes to ensure the protection of the rights of migrant workers and members of their families and to prevent discrimination against them on the grounds of gender, age, race, ethnic and social origin, religious and political beliefs, citizenship, property and family status, as well as on any other grounds.”
The document also defines the procedure for interaction between the sides. Employers must submit applications for hiring workers to the Pakistani embassy, conclude cooperation agreements with Pakistani sending agencies, and obtain work permits for each migrant worker. Employers must also inform the Pakistani side about the number of employed migrant workers and any violations of Belarusian legislation committed by them.
Pakistan’s Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment accepts applications from Belarusian employers through the embassy, forwards them to agencies, and assists in establishing contacts between employers and agencies. It is also required to report quarterly on the number of labor migrants to the competent authorities of Belarus and Pakistan and maintain an up-to-date register of workers.
The sending agency organizes the recruitment of workers and concludes the necessary agreements for their dispatch to Belarus, while interacting with employers and competent authorities. The memorandum also stipulates that the agency “ensures that migrant workers possess the necessary qualifications, language skills, are physically and mentally fit to perform the work for which they are recruited, and also have a certificate of no criminal record, the appropriate visa, a guarantee letter from the employer, or a job offer duly signed by both the migrant worker and the employer.”
The agency is also responsible for providing proper briefings on relevant laws, regulations, policies, procedures, norms, and culture related to employment in Belarus.
The return of Pakistanis who violate Belarusian legislation or fail to meet qualification requirements must be carried out at the expense of the sending agency.
The memorandum also defines the requirements for labor contracts concluded with migrant workers.
The memorandum is to enter into force 30 days after the date of receipt through diplomatic channels of the last written notification confirming that the parties have completed the procedures necessary for its implementation. The memorandum will remain in force for five years and will be automatically extended for the same period unless one of the parties notifies the other of termination six months before the expiration date.
