Youth can secure dream of new Pakistan: president

KARACHI: The President, Dr Arif Alvi, has said the youth are capable of achieving the dreams of the new Pakistan. The president stated this while addressing the students who appeared in the entry test for the Presidential Programme for Artificial Intelligence and Computing held here at the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium on Sunday.

Addressing the students, the president said the use of modern technology could enable Pakistan secure its due place in the international market. Alvi said the Information and Computer Technology could enable them to do business while remaining at home and also provide them the opportunity to take part in the development of Pakistan. “You could earn up to $ 30 billion through the use of software,” he said.“You are the youngsters who have entered in the process of new change in the country so it is imperative for you to learn whatever is being taught to you,” he said. The president said the youth would be made to board such a train, which would enable them to get them jobs around the world. He said Canada alone needed 200,000 such people who have the capability to use the concept of Artificial Intelligence.

President said the artificial intelligence would provide the basis of the fourth industrial revolution around the world containing enormous volumes of data. Steam engines, telecommunications, and similar other inventions had formed the basis of the earlier versions of the industrial revolution. The president said the industrial revolution has to be promoted through improving the thought process of the students. Alvi said the scope of the Presidential Programme for Artificial Intelligence would be expanded to Lahore, Islamabad, and to other cities.

Speaking on the occasion, the Federal Minister for Information Technology, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, said the fast changing world has revolutionized every aspect of the human life. “Only those people have been left out of the process of change who do not have the intention to become part of the change,” he said. He said efforts have to be made to promote use of digital technologies in Pakistan particularly among the youth. Maqbool said the youth of Karachi have the capability to match the speed of advancement in the field of IT.“The world is changing very fast as we have to change ourselves in a few years or otherwise we will be isolated from the rest of the world,” said the IT minister.

As many as 17,452 students were declared qualified for the entry test for the Presidential Programme from all over the country, and in the first phase of the test held in Karachi, 5,017 students took the examination.