Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Monday highlighted the key role of science and technology (S&T) and engineers in the economic development of the country.
Accordingly, he suggested convening an international S&T Summit to invite the world’s top scientists and researchers, aiming to find ways to establish a strong link between the science and technology sector and national economic development.
Addressing a symposium, the minister said today the country has thousands of Ph.Ds in the S&T and engineering sectors due to the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) initiative, the “Teachers Researchers Overseas Scholarship Scheme,” which was initiated in 1998 under Vision-2010. At that time, the number of S&T Ph.D holders stood at around 350. He explained that under the scheme, the government had offered 5,000 overseas and indigenous scholarships to brilliant students, resulting in a significant increase in human resource development, particularly in the S&T and engineering sectors. “There is a need for effective utilization of their capabilities to find solutions to our issues, engaging them in university laboratories,” he said, citing examples of developed nations, including America and European countries, that relied on solving issues—whether related to the corporate sector or national level—through laboratories under professors. “Unfortunately, Pakistan is totally disconnected in this area despite repeated attempts and having internationally acknowledged human resources,” he observed. Ahsan Iqbal mentioned that the country faced numerous challenges related to agriculture, health and climate change; and there should be regular ideas from university labs to address these issues effectively.
“We are all aware of our national problems,” the minister said, adding that the government’s 5Es framework focused on environment and climate change, food and water security.
He said the government has established a unit in the Ministry of Planning to monitor and evaluate ministries’ Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) regularly, under the 5Es framework (Export, Energy, Equity, E-Pakistan, and Environment), launched for national economic development.
He stressed the need for peace, political stability, consistent policies and an uninterrupted reform process to achieve national goals of progress and prosperity.
