ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Friday said that there is a dire need to prepare for future challenges even though the economy is moving in the right direction due to revolutionary measures that were taken by the incumbent government in various sectors including energy, economy, technology, health, infrastructure and education.
Addressing the National Center of Artificial Intelligence’s (NCAI) inaugural ceremony here at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), the minister said that other countries desired to work with Pakistan, especially in the wake of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
“Pakistan, however, still needs to adopt the latest technology to meet modern day challenges and keep up with the fast-moving world,” he added.
Ahsan Iqbal, who is also Planning, Development and Reforms Minister, said that the latest telecom technology including 3G and 4G could impact people’s socio-economic life positively if an innovative approach is adopted.
He said that peace had been restored in the country and terrorists were on the run, which was evident from the fact that people in far-flung areas of Balochistan had celebrated Independence Day with enthusiasm last year.
He informed that the government was trying to launch development projects in the remotest areas of the country.
“It was the incumbent government that made it possible to exploit precious Thar coal and electricity generation using the coal will start by the end of the current year, which would continue for the next 400 years. The coal reserves in Tharparkar can produce energy equal to that of Iran and Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas reserves combined,” he added.
The minister said that so far, a depth of 120 meters had been achieved in the Thar coal mining project and hopefully, coal excavation will be completed in a few months.
He added that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had fulfilled the promises it made during the elections of 2013 and Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), a multinational professional services network headquartered in London, had also forecast that Pakistan would be included in top 20 world economies by 2030 if the current pace of development continues.
Earlier, NUST Rector Lieutenant General (R) Naveed Zaman said that the NCAI will become the hub of technological advancement and added that NUST was playing a key role in the development of technology in the country, particularly in the robotics sector.