Belarus’ Council of Ministers has submitted to the House of Representatives a bill “On Ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on Cooperation in the Field of Labor and Employment”. The memorandum was signed in Islamabad on Aug. 27, 2025.
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 skilled Pakistani workers to the Republic of Belarus, as well as members of their families.
The competent authorities are defined as Belarus’ Interior Ministry and Labor Ministry, as well as Pakistan’s Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.
Belarus, under the memorandum, “undertakes to ensure the protection of the rights of migrant workers and their family members 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 any other grounds”.
The document also defines the procedure for interaction between the parties. Thus, an employer must submit an application to the Pakistani embassy to recruit workers, conclude a cooperation agreement with a Pakistani sending agency and obtain a work permit for each migrant worker. The employer must also inform the Pakistani side about the number of employed migrant workers and any violations of Belarusian law committed by them.
Pakistan’s Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment receives applications from Belarusian employers through the embassy, forwards them to agencies and assists in establishing contacts between the employer and the agency. It must also report quarterly on the number of migrant workers 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 sending them to Belarus, while also interacting with the employer and competent authorities. The memorandum also states that the agency “ensures that migrant workers possess the necessary qualifications, language knowledge, 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 appropriate instruction regarding the relevant laws, regulations, policies, procedures, norms and culture relating to their employment in Belarus.
The return of Pakistanis who violate Belarusian law or do not meet qualification requirements must be carried out at the expense of the sending agency.
The memorandum defines the requirements for the employment contract concluded with a migrant worker.
The memorandum is due to enter into force 30 days after the date of receipt through diplomatic channels of the last written notification by which the parties inform each other that the procedures necessary for the document to enter into force have been completed. The memorandum will remain in force for five years and will be extended for a similar period unless one of the parties notifies the other of its termination six months before the expiration date.
