Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said that the government would give 100,000 laptop computers to young people as part of the first phase of digital empowerment. Speaking at the Artificial Intelligence Summit, the minister said that students who, owing to merit, are not eligible for the laptop programme may nevertheless purchase them on convenient loan payments from commercial banks.

The minister continued by saying that the government has established digital national centres of excellence in automation and robotics at the NUST College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, and that each centre has laboratories connected to it from 10 to 12 engineering universities, including the universities of engineering and technology in Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi. He said that the distribution of laptops to young people between 2013 and 2018 resulted in a revolution because the majority of them are now generating significant foreign exchange reserves for the country through e-lancing services.

In 75 years, he said, the government has failed to turn Pakistan's economy into an export-driven one, which has left the country with insufficient foreign exchange reserves. When the economy starts to expand, the demand rises and the ability to spend money also improves, but the ability to make money does not increase because of a decline in exports, he said. According to him, political instability and a lack of policy continuity are to blame for the emergence of all economic issues. He said that in order to implement and maintain the economic policies, a government in Pakistan must have a mandate of at least ten years.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk