ISLAMABAD
\nMinister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday stressed the need for Pakistan to embrace agility at a faster yet steady pace to meet its national development objectives in an era defined by rapid innovation and reform.
\n\u201cThis is the age of innovation and reform. As a small nation, we have the potential to be far more agile. Our capacity to adapt is far greater than that of India\u2019s 1.5 billion-strong population,\u201d he said while addressing the launch ceremony of the National Early Childhood Development Framework and the Pak SUN Youth Network.
\nHe continued, \u201cWe must harness this advantage – changing swiftly, but with purpose and direction so that by 2047, when both Pakistan and India celebrate 100 years of independence, we will have surpassed India in development.\u201d Ahsan Iqbal said it was the power of technology and knowledge that has enabled a population of just 10 million to dominate Europe, noting that this population alone held more patents and innovations than 52 Muslim countries combined.
\nCommenting on past setbacks, the minister regretted that whenever the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government put the country on a consistent path of development and prosperity, the system was derailed, preventing the continuation of that agenda. He recalled the PML-N government\u2019s Vision 2010 and Vision 2025, which led world-leading rating agencies to predict that Pakistan would be among the top 20 economies by 2030.
\n\u201cToday, everyone is talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but we laid its foundation back in 2016 and 2017,\u201d he said, mentioning the establishment of the National Center for Excellence in Big Data and Cloud Computing, as well as National Centers for Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Applied Mathematics, Satellite Technology, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
\nHowever, the planning minister expressed optimism that the PML-N government would now achieve the set goals of national development under the recently launched five-year \u201cUraan Pakistan \u2013 5Es National Economic Transformation Plan (2024-29),\u201d a roadmap to a trillion-dollar economy by 2035.
\nAhsan Iqbal also highlighted the importance of advancements in space technology, saying \u201cThe 21st century is the century of the space economy. Every country is racing to explore planetary minerals and dominate the world from space by all means.\u201d In this regard, the minister shared his vision, which he wrote in the visitors\u2019 book during his recent visit to the SUPARCO Headquarters. He read out his comments: \u201c[. . .] SUPARCO is not just an organization. It is a symbol of the Pakistani nation\u2019s aspirations to conquer the stars and beyond. The frontiers of space challenge human genius to solve the universe\u2019s puzzles and develop capabilities for the advancement of mankind.\u201d
\n\u201cI hope that SUPARCO will put Pakistan back on the space exploration map through its hard work and innovation, landing Pakistan\u2019s spacecraft on the moon before 2035 and establishing Pakistan\u2019s Research Center on the moon by 2047,\u201d he said, wishing the organization success and urging it to fly the Pakistani flag higher in space with full zeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday stressed the need for Pakistan to embrace agility at a faster yet steady pace to meet its national development objectives in an era defined by rapid innovation and reform. \u201cThis is the age of innovation and reform. As a small nation, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-462800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-national"],"yoast_head":"\n