Army chief stresses public-private partnership for defence production

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has said there is a need for enhanced public-private partnership to make the Pakistan defence industry into a vibrant, self reliant and self-sustained entity. He made the remarks while speaking at the two-day national seminar on ‘Defence Production — Security through Self Reliance’ which concluded on Friday with the note to optimise defence production with help of the private sector.

The Army chief said apart from the public sector and defence production organisations, “a fully integrated private sector in our defence industry is much wanting”. “There is a need to amplify indigenisation through fully integrated public and private organisations in defence production for meaningful progression in defence of the country,” he added. Gen Bajwa also thanked participants for giving time to an important issue concerning national security. The seminar was aimed at paving way for self-reliance by exploring indigenous defence production potential, identifying organisational and institutional challenges of defence industry, pragmatic solutions to optimise defence production and recommending policy level measures to have fully immersed private sector in defence production.

Members from different ministries, public and private organisations, chambers of commerce and industries, defence production establishments and members from academia participated in the seminar.

Representatives from public sector discussed and suggested way forward for public private partnership in defence production. Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Defence Production Zobaida Jalal and Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry shared their views and suggestions for development of Pakistan defence industry into a prolific entity.

Representatives from private sectors shared roadmap for enhancing public- private partnership in defence production. Adviser to the PM on Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production and Investment, Abdul Razzak Dawood enlightened the participants on the importance of an independent defence industry for national security.

Based on discussion and suggestions discussed during the marathon two-day session, the seminar concluded with policy level recommendations for the government. Major recommendations included establishment of task force under Prime Minister for roadmap to facilitating indigenous defence production, establishing raw material industry, incorporating private sector for raw material base so as to optimally utilise public sector capacity for indigenous defence production, surplus defence potential for export, establishing “digital parks” to tap into the software industry potential and promoting R&D in universities.