The Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal has said after the magnificent victory of the Pakistani forces in the “Battle of Truth” against India, the nation should now triumph in the “Battle of Economy” as well.
He expressed these views while addressing the academia and students at University of Sindh and Shaheed Allah Buksh Soomro (SABS) University of Art, Design and Heritages, in Jamshoro district on Friday.
He underscored that wars could only be won successfully when a country’s economy was strong.
He recalled that last year the enemy attacked Pakistan at night, but the country’s response was so swift and strong that not only India but the entire world was astonished.
Iqbal emphasized that a strong defense required a strong economy, adding that while the armed forces emerged victorious in the “Battle of Truth”, it was now the nation’s turn to succeed in the “Battle of Economy”.
The minister referred to the predictions of economic default of Pakistan in 2022 when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led coalition government took the country’s helm and said the world in the following years witnessed a turnaround in the form of development and economic stability.
He said when their 12-party alliance took control of the country they were confronted with 38 percent which had now been shrunken down to 5 percent.
Likewise, he added, the policy rate was soaring at 23 percent before the incumbent government’s economic policies helped bring it down to the present 10.5 percent.
“The stock market and other indicators are all reflecting progress. But, this is not our target because we ought to ensure sustainable 6 percent to 7 percent annual growth,” Iqbal underlined.
The minister juxtaposed Pakistan’s exports with Vietnam and said the latter was exporting goods and services worth $2.5 billion in 1990 and Pakistan $5 billion in the same year.
However, at present Vietnam’s exports stand at a whopping $408 billion and Pakistan’s just at $40 billion.
He also made another comparison between Pakistan’s remittances and exports saying 9 million Pakistan diaspora sent $40 billion remittances and on the other hand 240 million Pakistanis were exporting only about the same amount.
“The country’s exports should be at least around $400 billion,” he emphasized.
Iqbal said the country’s biggest challenge at the moment was getting rid of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) so that the country could find its financial autonomy and give a bright future to the youth.
He apprised that the government had inked an agreement with the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) under which district level export development plans would be executed.
He encouraged the people to sell their goods online through platforms like Amazon, Alibaba and others.
Iqbal informed that at a recent technology conference in Islamabad, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had made 3 big announcements with the topmost concerning investment of $1 billion on Artificial (AI) education in the next 5 years.
He added that the second announcement was about providing 1,000 PhD scholarships in AI and the third related to providing training in AI skills to 1 million youth of Pakistan in 5 years.
He expressed hope that provincial governments would also come up with similar plans which had become a need of the time to make Pakistan a beneficiary of AI and not a victim of it.
He described AI as the third most seminal advancement after electricity and internet but the one whose impact was going to be far larger than the preceding two technologies.
He said the government wanted youth not to become job seekers rather creators, developers and entrepreneurs.
“We don’t need to teach our youth how to raise chicken for eggs,” he said, in a tacit yet critical reference to former PM Imran Khan’s statement about farming chicken and eggs.
“We want our youth to advance in the digital space,” he said.
Iqbal believed that Sindh being a 5,000 years old civilization was blessed with huge potential which needed to be guided and supported.
Speaking earlier, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Fateh Muhammad Marri said there was a strong need to establish an Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory at his university.
He appealed to the federal minister for financial assistance for setting up that laboratory and to complete some other unfinished development projects.
Director Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science Dr Ayaz Keerio briefed the guests about the institute’s academic and research activities.