THE Asian Productivity Organization (APO) has announced to decorate Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Professor Ahsan Iqbal with the meritorious and distinguished award-2024 for his inspiring, exemplary achievements and contributions leading to centrality of productivity. Ahsan Iqbal has been picked for Asia-Pacific region’s award because of his innovative ideas, policies and programmes that have been instrumental in shaping up the developmental processes in Pakistan.
The well-deserved award is an honour for Pakistan as it is an acknowledgement of his meritorious services by a neutral regional organization. Earlier, the role and contribution of Ahsan Iqbal, who also served as the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, were eulogized by the UNDP describing him as ‘Champion Minister’ for the Asia Pacific region, for his tireless efforts in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He is widely known to have been closely associated with the planning and implementation stages of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and it is in recognition of his vibrant role that Chinese call him as ‘Mr. CPEC’. Ahsan Iqbal has numerous achievements to his credit but some of the prominent initiatives include vision 2010, vision 2025, Outlook 2035, 5Es framework, 4RF framework for flood, CPEC, five New Economic Corridor and their alignment with 5Es framework, National Centres for Excellences, Main Line-1 (ML-1) railway project, KCR; Karachi Circular Railway, KCR and others. The ideas he floated and plans he delivered had the potential to make a real difference but regrettably some of the initiatives could not be taken to fruition due to political instability and disruption in policy approaches. Personalities like him are national assets and should be treated as such.
