Daily Times

Chairman Prime Minister’s Youth Programme Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan on Thursday said that the government was striving for the empowerment of youth and it had planned to launch several projects to fast track this process.

Addressing a press conference here, he said that Pakistan was facing multiple economic and political challenges and that all political forces and institutions should work together to overcome these challenges.

He said after the signing of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, the economy was being put back on the right track and investors’ confidence was restored.

He said out of the 240 million population of Pakistan, about 70 percent comprised below 30 years. Rana Mashhood said it meant that 170 million of Pakistan’s population consisted of youth.

He said that the government was working on several programmes to engage the youth and to provide them with suitable platforms to show their talent and skills. “It is vital to provide the youth of the country platform and engage them positively to bring prosperity”, he added.

He said that the new generation will have to be given confidence that if they work hard, they will get the reward.

Mashhood said that in the field of education, sports and IT skills, the youth will have to come forward to contribute to nation building process.

Thanking the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership for appointing him as Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, he said Shehbaz Sharif had launched many youth related projects in the Punjab as chief minister and now they would be replicated at the federal level.

He said that this year the scope of the youth programme would be expanded and information technology would be included in it. He said it was the vision of the PM that the IT industry should be transformed into a $ 15 to 25 billion industry and for this purpose the programmes launched by Punjab Information Technology Board would also be launched at the federal level.

Rana Mashhood said that three sectors including IT, skill development and agriculture were identified for getting short and mid-term progress results.

He said that the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission was joining hands with provincial technical education and vocational authorities to impart skill development to the youth. He said besides technical and vocational courses, the youth would also attend language classes for the countries they intended to go to.

He said in this era of IT, artificial intelligence and digitalization e-gaming or e-sports had become an industry worth billions of dollars. He said unfortunately in Pakistan, there was no organisation of Electronic sports.

The government was planning to formulate an e-sports organisation and train players for e-sports World Cup to be held in Saudi Arabia in July or August, he said adding that as per an estimate over 6 to seven million Pakistani youth were involved in e-sports and the government would now support them in their pursuit.

He said like education and IT skills development, sports had become a big industry which was neglected in the past. He said national games would be held this year with much fanfare and the talent identified in these games would be encouraged to participate in SAF games to be hosted by Pakistan next year.

He said that steps were being taken to promote local artisans and their crafts and for this purpose, they would be given opportunities to show their skills at national and international levels. He said that modern scientific facilities would be provided to these artisans so that they could further hone their talent.