‘Govt encouraging innovative ideas, providing opportunities to youth’

Islamabad : Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiative Ahsan Iqbal has said that the government is encouraging innovative ideas, providing opportunities, and creating an enabling environment for distinctive skills for youth.

The Minister was speaking at the screening of a documentary film produced by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics at Islamabad Club. Dr Nadeem-ul-Haque, Vice-Chancellor, PIDE University said that PIDEAS (PIDE ideas) initiative will help us to generate and disseminate research-based ideas, inform policy debate, and suggest actionable solutions for change and growth in Pakistan adding that research without debate is useless.

Muhammad Afnan Alam, Deputy Director-General (Land & Estate), CDA, led the debate on urban mobility in the context of Islamabad. The research-based film suggests that cities are the engine of growth because cities are where development and innovation happen. In addition, labour force, industries, and economic corridors exist in cities. He said that for effective transport and urban mobility policy, we need to highlight the areas of population, employment, densification, and intensification around our cities followed by linking all these corridors with one another.

Razi-ur-Rahman, Group Director, Corporate Affairs of Atlas Group & CEO APL said that the research-based film suggests eliminating the own money premium and the booking culture needs to be demolished. He said no vehicle can be sold or booked that has not been manufactured and is not available at the dealership. Furthermore, the supply needs to be increased through increased production by local manufacturers/assemblers and allowing selective imports of vehicles.

Ahmad Iqbal, former Mayor of District Norowal was the speaker in the youth documentary. He said that the research-based film suggests that Pakistan currently has the largest percentage of young people ever recorded in its history --- more than 50 percent of the population in Pakistan are youth. He opined that the documentary highlighted the issues of youth unemployment, lack of opportunities, housing provision, and soft skills in Pakistan.

Earlier, PIDE's Pro-Vice-Chancellor Dr. Durre Nayab in her welcoming remarks, said that through PIDEAS initiative, PIDE is stimulating content creators and filmmakers to articulate their artistic expressions and bringing research and policy closer to people.