ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s President, Dr Arif Alvi, on Thursday called for fostering an environment that enables youth to nurture their intellectual abilities and benefit from their innovative ideas for the country’s prosperity.
He said that Pakistani youth were blessed with brilliant minds, immense potential, and bright ideas. However, they needed an appropriate platform to transform their ideas into quality and competitive products to increase the country’s exports and reduce imports.
President Alvi gave these remarks while addressing the season finale of the National Idea Bank (NIB)’ 3rd Edition, arranged by the National University of Technology in collaboration with ASPIRE Pakistan, at Aiwan-e-Sadr. The event was attended by members of the business community and academia.
Highlighting the significance of innovative and emerging technologies, President Alvi said that he was a staunch supporter of promoting a knowledge-based economy and emphasized the need for talent hunting through forums like the NIB for socio-economic development.
He commended the role being played by NIB as a repository of innovative ideas that would serve as a catalyst for Pakistan’s transformation to a brighter and prosperous future.
The president said that technological and innovative solutions needed to be adopted in a timely manner for the
development of the country. He remarked that he had been advocating for internet voting to grant overseas Pakistanis the right to vote and to use electronic voting machines in Pakistan’s electoral process.
President Expresses Concerns
The president also expressed concerns over the elite capture of the system, which only safeguarded the interests of the elite and failed to address important socio-economic challenges, especially educating more than 26 million out-of-school children.
He also emphasized the need to focus on issues such as stunting and malnutrition as well as neonatal mortality rate.
President Alvi criticized the existing world order, based on vested interests, that failed to stop the ongoing Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
