ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal Monday inaugurated the Event Registration Portal of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) during the International Annual Trans-Eurasia Information Network (TIEN) NOC Workshop-2017 here at Higher the HEC’s auditorium.
Speaking on the occasion, the interior minister said, “We are living in a very competitive world and being categorised as the least efficient innovator is a very serious challenge.” The workshop, being held from December 11-15, is organised by Pakistan Education and Research Network (PERN) in collaboration with Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) in order to enhance skills of network engineers and network security capabilities staff. The workshop is being attended by participants from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Ahsan Iqbal, who is also minister for Planning Development and Reforms, said: “This is a century of innovations and only those nations are progressing well that have equipped themselves with weapons of knowledge and technology.”
He said standards of development had changed and now the development of a country depended upon a few things. “We need to enhance our production capacity and improve our standard continuously. We need to introduce knowledge and information revolution in the country and introduce innovations in all sectors,” he said.
The minister said Pakistan had huge potential to get place among top 10 economies of the world for which “We need to conduct research on modern technology.” He said after successful launch of 3G and 4G technology, the government plans to test 5G services in the country soon.
The government, he said, was establishing centres of excellence for artificial intelligence, cyber security, big data, cloud computing and robots.
He said that digital Pakistan was aimed at equipping the young generation with modern technology to ensure its effective usage and added that with the provision of 3G and 4G, Pakistan has become the fourth largest freelancing country.
He said many other countries had expressed their interest to become part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which was a sign of great change. “We must put Pakistan on the road to progress with the help of all areas and segments of the country,” the minister said. However, it is only possible when we have competitiveness. In his brief address, HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed emphasised the need for promotion of constructive sciences. “Let’s work together for the well-being of humanity,” he underlined. He appreciated the present government for approving the highest number of projects in higher education by doubling HEC budget during last few years. On the occasion, Director APAN, Nimal Ratnayke said Asia Pacific Advanced Network coordinates activities related to network technologies, services, and applications among its members and with its peer international organisations. APAN is also a key driver in promoting and facilitating network-enabled research and education activities. These include research collaboration, knowledge discovery and sharing, tele-health and natural disaster mitigation. Separately, Ahsan Iqbal Monday said that the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) states needed to work together on connectivity challenges.
Addressing the inaugural session of the 28th Meeting of Regional Planning Council of the ECO, the minister said, “We will have to work and collaborate proactively to prepare our people to embrace the challenge of latest technologies and innovations.”
He underlined that regional and global cooperation was essential to address challenges in political, security, economic and environmental fronts require regional.
Published in Daily Times, December 12th 2017.