Pakistan included in Italian Seasonal Work Visa Programme for 2022: Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese

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Islamabad: Ambassador of Italy to Pakistan Andreas Ferrarese said this week that Pakistan had been included in the Italian Seasonal Work Visa Programme for 2022 by Italy.

He said this would provide many opportunities to the Pakistani workers in agriculture and services sector to work in Italy.

He added that Italian government has recently reduced the timelines for work visa processing which has been a long standing demand from Pakistani workers.

Ambassador Ferrarese said Pakistan’s earnings from Italy in exports and remittances crossed $2 billion in Financial Year 2021-2022. In addition a substantial growth in FDI from Italy was also witnessed during the record breaking year.

He said Italy became the seventh billion dollar export country for Pakistan during the year with a record growth of export volume to $1,146 million, while the remittances from Italy were also on the path to touch billion dollars soon with a total of $857 million during the year. June 2022 also set the record for highest export volume ever to Italy in a single month crossing $144 million.

Italy posted the highest growth both in workers’ remittances among all countries with high numbers of Pakistani diaspora and for exports among the top ten export destinations.

This phenomenal growth in exports and remittances has come at a time when European economies in general and Italian economy in particular is slowing down and facing multiple challenges due to Ukraine war.

The exports to Italy of $1.15 billion in FY 2021-22 are 46% higher than the previous year, while the remittances are 41% higher for the same period than the last year.