Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Friday articulated the government\u2019s long-term economic vision aimed at transforming Pakistan into a modern, knowledge-based and inclusive economy, calling upon development partners to continue their collaborative role in supporting Pakistan\u2019s reform and development agenda.<\/p>\n
Addressing the Development Partners Workshop here, the minister extended his appreciation to multilateral and bilateral institutions for their sustained support during national emergencies, public health crises, and economic challenges.<\/p>\n
He remarked that the solidarity shown by development partners had been both \u201ctimely and transformative,\u201d particularly in times when Pakistan faced some of its most testing circumstances.<\/p>\n
The minister said that Pakistan, like many countries in the Global South, faced a complex set of challenges including fiscal constraints, climate shocks, food and water insecurity, and development gaps.<\/p>\n
However, he noted that the country also stood at the cusp of significant opportunity, given its young and growing population, 65 per cent of whom were under the age of 30.<\/p>\n
Outlining the government\u2019s economic transformation plan titled Uraan Pakistan, Ahsan Iqbal said the vision aimed to position Pakistan as a $1 trillion economy by 2025 and a $3 trillion economy by 2047.<\/p>\n
The roadmap, he said, was anchored in the \u201cFive Es Framework\u201d\u2014focusing on Exports, E-Governance, Equity and Empowerment, Environment, and Energy\u2014as key pillars for strategic development.<\/p>\n
Under the first pillar of Exports, the minister stressed the need for diversifying Pakistan\u2019s export base beyond textiles to sectors such as information technology, pharmaceuticals, food processing, creative industries, and the blue economy.<\/p>\n
He highlighted ongoing efforts to expand global market access through Special Economic Zones under CPEC, and regional connectivity via Central and West Asian corridors.<\/p>\n
On E-Governance, Ahsan Iqbal said the government had launched the \u2018Digital Pakistan\u2019 initiative aimed at digitising public services, expanding broadband coverage, promoting digital literacy, and enabling youth-led entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n
He stated that Pakistan\u2019s IT exports had already crossed the $2.5 billion mark and held significant potential for growth.<\/p>\n
He invited development partners to contribute in building digital infrastructure, nurturing human capital, and enhancing cyber resilience.<\/p>\n
The third pillar, Equity and Empowerment, placed citizens at the centre of the development process.<\/p>\n
The minister highlighted initiatives aimed at improving health, education, nutrition, and skills development, alongside programmes for gender equity and economic inclusion in less developed regions such as Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, and the newly merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.<\/p>\n
He also announced the declaration of a \u201cnational education emergency,\u201d acknowledging the urgent need to bring over 23 million out-of-school children into the education system if Pakistan was to remain competitive in the 21st century.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal is to leave no one behind,\u201d he emphasized, calling on development partners to collaborate on innovative solutions to address the country\u2019s human development deficits.<\/p>\n
Ahsan Iqbal concluded his address by reaffirming the government\u2019s commitment to reform, inclusive development, and strategic partnerships.<\/p>\n
He called upon the development community to continue playing a constructive role in enabling Pakistan to realise its long-term goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether, we can turn Pakistan\u2019s potential into sustainable progress,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Friday articulated the government\u2019s long-term economic vision aimed at transforming Pakistan into a modern, knowledge-based and inclusive economy, calling upon development partners to continue their collaborative role in supporting Pakistan\u2019s reform and development agenda. Addressing the Development Partners Workshop here, the minister extended …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":81161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81171,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81148\/revisions\/81171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}