By Faiza Tehseen ISLAMABAD, Oct. 27 (INP-WealthPK)- China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – a promising project that is expected to usher in an era of economic boon for Pakistan – has thrown open a bonanza of job opportunities for the professionals and skilled workforce. This multibillion-dollar project has provided jobs to about 75,000 people in the last five years, including 16,000 labourers and engineers in energy projects and 13,000 in the transport and road sector. This number is likely to increase by another 10,000 to 15,000. Pakistan currently is the 9th largest labour force provider. But unfortunately, it is fairly weak in the South Asian region to provide technically trained workforce, as 5.9 percent of its estimated 61 million workers lack proper skills and experience to seize the opportunities under CPEC. Owing to this factor, some foreign companies working in Pakistan had to opt for skilled foreign workers. Addressing this problem, All Pakistan China Entrepreneurs Association (APCEA) and National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which special training sessions will be launched to equip the Pakistani labour force and other professionals with the skills required for different CPEC projects. NAVTTC is now maintaining and regularly updating an authentic and secured talent pool to know the real-time situation of its enrolled students. This initiative will help the skilled workforce to find CPEC-related job opportunities. In the same way, Chinese companies will be asked to register on the national job portal to enlist their future labour demand according the nature of the projects to realize the expected outcomes. CPEC has entered its second phase that focuses on social development in areas such as health, education, and agriculture. So, there is a need to incorporate a people-centric approach to open new work venues in special economic zones (SEZs) for Pakistani labour and other professionals. CPEC is divided into pentagonal functioning zones e.g., Xinjiang foreign economic zone, northern border trade logistics and business corridor along with ecological reserve, eastern and central plain economic zone, western logistics corridor business zone and southern coastal logistics business zone. All these zones require technical professionals and labour force equipped with a particular set of skills. Logistics and transport departments are another important leaf of CPEC-based projects requiring proper skills and expertise. It has been estimated that due to improper performance in this sector, Pakistan loses 4 to 6 percent GDP annually. However, it can be covered by adopting proper measures. If Pakistani professionals and labour continue to lack skills, the unemployment pool will keep widening, as has already happened in the case of three small steel mills where the entire Pakistani staff has been replaced with foreigners except a few ones who have to deal with the public.