Officers from different departments of Pakistan’s government and public services recently visited Qatar as part of 104 National Management Course (NMC). The 10-member delegation headed by Shahid Rahim Sheikh visited different government departments in Qatar during their three-day study tour before moving on to United Kingdom on the next leg of the training course.
The delegation comprised officers of grade-20 who are undergoing management training at National Management College (NMC) Lahore, Pakistan under the National School of Public Policy (NSPP), which administers management training for civil service officers in different domains.
The NMC trainees are sent to at least two foreign countries as part of their training in order to acquaint them with different management and administrative system. During their stay in Qatar, the NMC delegation visited the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Planning, Supreme Committee of Delivery and Legacy, Lusail City, Qatar Foundation (QF), Al Jazeera Media, Qatargas and other government departments.
The aim of the National Management Course (NMC) is to enable senior officers of the federal and provincial civil services, friendly countries (allied participants), armed forces and senior executives from the private sector to understand factors bearing on formulation and implementation of public policy, with a view to prepare them for assignments at national policy level.
The NMC aims at sensitising the participants to concepts and issues in modern statecraft and public policy; and to the methodology and processes of public policy formulation; and enhance their abilities to think strategically and appreciate how various factors, internal as well as external, impinge upon the policy process.
It also involves enhancing their understanding of geo-political and geo-economic trends in a globalising world and identifying challenges and opportunities for Pakistan; and analyse determinants of foreign policy and major international issues and their impact on Pakistan.
The course helps them establish links between domestic and international compulsions for Pakistan, enabling the participants to give rational inputs for formulation of a pragmatic policy framework.
Pakistan Engineers Forum-Qatar (PEF-Q) hosted a dinner reception at Pistachio Restaurant Doha for the visiting delegation. Charge d’Affairs at Pakistan Embassy, Wajid Hassan Hashmi, Commercial Attache Arbab Qaiser, Defense Attache Massud Akram and former ambassador Sarfarz Khanzada also joined the group.
PEF President Mohammad Tahir Jamil briefed the delegation about the composition and structure of PEF-Q, a representative forum of Pakistani engineers in Qatar.
He gave an overview of the activities carried out by the forum for Pakistani community living in Qatar, particularly Pakistani professionals working here. He explained the areas where PEF could collaborate and cooperate with Pakistani institutes for public policy and development.
He also presented a memento to Shahid Rahim, the head of the delegation. Shahid in return presented a souvenir of the NMC to Jamil.
PEF senior members who attended the dinner included Mohammad Riaz, Ajmal chaudary, Ghaiyas Rao, Pistachio CEO Rizwana Abdul Sattar and Abdul Sattar.
The 10-member delegation of NMC included Shahid Rahim, Ambreen Raza, Basharat Mahmood Shahzad, Bashirullah Khan, Nasir Hamid, Manzoor Hussain Memon, Dr Khalid Hussain, Munawwar Khan and Waseem Mukhtar Chaudary.
PEF was formed in 1997 to represent Pakistani engineers working in Qatar. The idea was to gather all Pakistani engineers on one platform.
The founders of the organisation worked out a number of bylaws for its working. Under these bylaws, every second year a new executive committee is elected to run the affairs of the forum. There are now more than 300 Pakistani engineers who are the members of the forum, making it the largest group of Pakistani professionals working in Qatar.
The main objectives of the PEF are to organise all Pakistani engineers working in Qatar in a professional association, promote awareness and understanding of developments in technology and industry, and promote professional contact and networking between members and Qataris.
It also aims to promote the professional interests and a positive image of the members, promote Pakistani technical expertise and highlight opportunities, arrange technical seminars for members and guests, and arrange social, cultural and sports events for families of the members.