Islamabad (Web Desk): Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday urged the world community to formulate a combined global strategy to protect the vulnerable segments of the society especially the labourers from the impacts of coronavirus pandemic.
He said this while addressing an online global summit on COVID-19 organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Radio Pakistan reported.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the labour community was most impacted due to coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns imposed across the world.
He pointed out that many countries including Pakistan depend upon remittances sent by the overseas workers.
"Though the host countries are also faced with many problems due to coronavirus, yet we need to convince them to be more sympathetic to these labourers," the PM said.
He said the future is very uncertain as we do not know how long the economy will take to recover from the impacts of the pandemic.
"We are praying that vaccines come out as a cure to the virus but in the meantime we need to share our experiences and exchange ideas to protect our vulnerable groups," PM Imran asserted.
Sharing the initial lockdown experience of Pakistan, the Prime Minister said it rendered our daily wage workers and labourers unemployed.
"We came up with the smart lockdown idea under which public gatherings were stopped but we allowed other activities like reopening of construction and agriculture sectors," the PM said.
PM Imran Khan said Pakistani government provided cash assistance to the labourers under Ehsaas Programme after completing their registration process.
"It was the first time in Pakistan's history that such a huge money was disbursed in such a short space of time," he said.
"This saved us from some of the worst aspects of the crisis. Unlike in India, where they imposed a curfew which pushed people into deeper poverty."
Prime Minister Imran Khan urged the world community to share information on their strategies to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.