Minister for Interior Rehman Malik told the National Assembly on Friday that steps would be taken to establish mobile phone manufacturing units in the country. “At present, there is no mobile phone manufacturing unit in the country. But realistic action will be taken in this respect,” he said while replying to a question. Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali told the National Assembly that a research programme was being carried out to produce energy-efficient equipments in the country for conserving electricity. He said the National Institute of Electronic (NIE), which mostly dealt with defence and medical sectors, was operating several laboratories in various parts of the country to carry out research work relating to production of local energy-efficient equipments of daily use. The minister said the aims and objectives of NIE were to carry out design and development work in vital areas of electronics besides developing know-how in advanced electronic techniques. He said funds amounting to Rs 673.424 million were allocated to NIE during the last five years, of which Rs 489.418 million had been released. Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khurshid Shah said overseas Pakistanis had sent a total of $24,733.54 million in foreign exchange through banks since the year 2008-09 to date. To a question, Shah said an amount of $7,811.43 million was sent by the expatriates in the year 2008-09, $8,905.95 million in 2009-10, while in 2010-11 (July to March) $8,016.16 million were sent by overseas Pakistanis through banks.
