Italy, Spain, Austria and Greece have shown interest in recruiting people from India: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, while highlighting the demand for Indian talent across the world, said Italy, Spain, Austria and Greece were among the countries that had shown interest in tapping into our human resources pool as urgently and effectively as possible.

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He was speaking at the launch of an event — Global Access to Talent from India — where he said, “There is a demand in the world, an availability in India and the basic groundwork has been done to enable Indian talent gain global access.”

The demand is spurred by sharp demographic changes, demand for new technologies and their diffusion, compatibilities in culture and work ethos, as well as the premium put on trust and resilience in many fields.  There are currently roughly about 34 million Indians and Persons of Indian Origin living and working abroad.

Jaishankar said the Speaker of Japan was here on Monday to advocate an action plan that would create a concrete and predictable flow of Indian skills to his country. It would help take forward the agreement of specialised skill workers (SSW) that India and Japan concluded a few years ago.

He said that there was a flow of workers in Israel and Mauritius had a similar demand and had concluded an understanding with India. Malaysia had opened up many more sectors to Indian skills, especially construction, he said.

He said India had traditionally been a source country for Singapore and its requirement would upgrade as their economy grows. The German Chancellor was here last October, and the European nation is looking to increase employment Visas for Indians by four times.

India, he said, had already witnessed the increasing demand for human resources and today the largest number of  Indian nationals live and work in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Global service sectors like shipping, airlines and hospitality are today struggling with post-Covid challenges, including attitude towards work demands. This opens up new opportunities for those willing.