Europe destination next for Indian professionals, workers

With the government pushing for a bilateral labour mobility agreement, Indian professionals and workers may soon be headed for destinations in Eastern European countries, as 13 million job opportunities are expected to arise there.

With numbers of aging population on the rise in Europe and a steady outflow of skilled workers from these countries to a more prosperous western Europe, India hopes to fill the gap with its young work force.

So far the traditional choices for Indian professionals was North America and for workers it was Gulf countries.

Studies by the European Union estimates on the basis of increase in production capacities and growth parameters that 13 million additional jobs will be created in Eastern Europe between years 2006-15.

The ministry of overseas Indian affairs have already signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for implementation of an European Union sponsored project `Regional Dialogue and Program on Facilitating Managed and Legal Migration between Asia and the European Union'.

"Labour supply gaps in the EU states have been identified in certain key sectors like construction, health, hospitality, Pharma and IT. Also a India-EU Free Trade agreement which is on the cards shortly will provide a natural corollary for supporting movement of Indian workers and professionals," said a top MOIA official.

"Countries like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary and Denmark have already been approached by the Indian government with proposals for a bilateral labour mobility agreement, after a potential for circular migration was identified in these countries." he said.

Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Vyalar Raviv is slated to visit Copenhagen and London later this month to push the bilateral labour agreement treaty with Denmark.

The agreement pursues putting in place a system of safe and legal migration for Indian workers. To meet standards of global production structures, India is counting on the Craftsman Training Scheme and an Apprenticeship Training Scheme of the Directorate General of Employment and Training.

"We have offered skilled worksmen for Europe in 153 trades from the 1896 Industrial Training Institutes and 3126 industrial training centres in the country," said an official.

Studies have shown that population of working age in Europe will decrease from 67.2 per cent in 2004 to 56.7 per cent by 2050. While population of elderly will double from prevailing 18 per cent to 30 per cent by 2050.

With Europe hit hard by recession, officials said they are awaiting an opportune moment to go ahead with the bilateral labour mobility agreement.

"Going by global market trends, Europe will over come the recessionary trends by end of this year. A job fair in Denmark is on the cards by then to initiate the process. Responses to the agreement are also expected from Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland and a few other countries around the same time," said a policy division official at the MOIA.