Staff Reporter
Federal Minister of Science and Technology, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Thursday said the country’s stability required opposition parties and all the institutions to go along with the government on important issues.
He was talking to the media persons after attending national conference on “Artificial Intelligence Implications in National Security and Hybrid Warfare” arranged here by Center of Pakistan and International Relations (COPAIR).
The minister appreciated the role of opposition in passage of bills related to important national security issues and said “Opposition has shown sense of responsibility by keeping national interest supreme”.
“Army belongs to all the political parties as well as the whole nation, not only to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf”, he said.
The discussions on Election Commission of Pakistan and National Accountability Bureau laws were moving ahead between the government and the opposition, he added.
To a question, Fawad Chaudhry said “Shahbaz Sharif and Khawaja Asif must toss for the post of Prime Minister.”
Addressing the participants of the conference earlier, the minister said the present government would devise robust strategies for the next ten years to keep a pace with the modern scientific and technological development.
He underlined the need to implement macro policies to counter the challenges of propaganda and hybrid warfare in the modern world.
“We are in efforts to regain the country’s past glory when it established the organization like SUPARCO and the countries like India and China were not even in the list of our competitors. Today when we talk about sending Pakistan’s first space mission in 2022, people show surprising attitude”, the minister said.
The budget of science and technology ministry had increased up to 600 percent with the efforts of Chairman Prime Minister’s Task force on Science and Technology, Dr Atta ur Rahman, he said.
It is the high time for the country to make proper planning for coping with the challenges after launch of 5G technology, unmanned vehicles and influx of disinformation due to growing use of social media.
The present government is considering reducing taxes and ending custom duty on import of hi-tech products which would pave the way for uplift of hi-tech industry in the country.
The prime focus of his ministry was to boost bio-technology which was indispensable for the progress of our country, the minister added.
He said a state-of-the-art bio technology park would be established at Jhelum. “Four percent of country’s GDP should come from bio-technology”, the minister stressed.
Fawad Chaudhry said the country would soon have a state-of-the-art science and technology park in the federal capital.
The minister said Pakistan had great potential in Information Technology sector and was the fourth largest country of the world developing freelance software.
His ministry was in contact with the authorities to bring PayPal account in Pakistan which would remove big hurdle for our IT experts in receiving payments after selling their products internationally, the minister stated.
