Strong economy fundamental pillar of national security: minister

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday said that strong economy is a fundamental-pillar for achieving national security as in modern era wars cannot be won by weapons only.

Addressing an inaugural ceremony of Research Centre for Robotics and Automation at the College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering in Rawalpindi, he said super power Soviet Union collapsed due to weak economy as only strong and competitive economies of the world survive now.

He said prudent policies pursued by the government have laid the foundation for a vibrant and modern economy. In 2013, average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate was 3 percent, but due to policies adopted by the government, the average was now 5 percent.

“Presently, we have 5.8 percent GDP and international institutions have termed Pakistan the fastest growing economy of the world,” he added. “Pakistan will be among 25 top economies of the world by 2025.”

The minister said a developing economy was not a T20, but test match which required patience, stability, peace, and continuity of policies to achieve fast-paced economic development and prosperity.

Iqbal said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had implemented its manifesto of 4Es- energy, extremism, education, and economy and its efforts were endorsed by international financial and ranking institutions.

“Our progress in social sector has been exemplary, economic growth was the highest during last 13 years, we added over 10,000MW power to the system and above all shattered the terrorist networks in the country,” he said.

The minister said in 2013, the country was using 2G only but the present government brought 3G and 4G technologies to Pakistan, and the country was ready to adopt 5G along the world by 2020.

He further said that with the removal of bottlenecks in energy sector and development of infrastructure, investment of billions of dollars was coming to Pakistan and the country was in takeoff position. “Connectively will ensure progress, prosperity development and creation of jobs, he added.

Ahsan said the government launched Pak-US Knowledge Corridor under which had funding, on annual basis, for 1,000 scholars to study in the best US universities. "We need to ensure that the Pakistani scholars avail the opportunities being offered under this initiative to study in the best US universities,” the minister said.

The government had launched a similar programme named UK-Pakistan Knowledge Gateway, which offered Pakistani students to acquire quality higher education as well as exposure by studying in leading UK universities. Sharing future vision for higher education sector, the minister stressed the need for evolving a strong mechanism to annually evaluate progress on the seven pillars of Higher Education Vision 2025. He emphasised on universities to develop a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Matrix to examine development on the goals set under the Vision 2025.

Urging to align human resource development with Vision 2025, he said project management needed to be given due importance to ensure proper execution of projects and utilisation of funds in future.