Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday called for revisiting the national priorities to steer Paki-stan out of its present socio-economic and political difficulties.
He said that it was the responsibility of the leadership of all institutions to focus on addressing the ma-jor challenges, including overcoming poverty, improving the economy, checking population growth, providing health and education facilities, and eliminating inequalities from society, especially in the ru-ral areas of the country.
The president expressed these views while talking to the participants of the Senior Officers’ Leader-ship Course (SOLC-10), who called on him, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release.
Talking to the officers, the president underlined the need for inculcating the spirit of forgiveness and love for humanity to promote tolerance and harmony in the society.
He said that he was deeply hurt by the incidents on 9th May and urged the need for upholding the rule of law and holding of only peaceful protests in the country.
The president deplored the fact that delayed decision-making had arrested the country’s progress, adding that Pakistan needed to make faster decisions to keep pace with the exponential develop-ments taking place in the world.
He said that rapid advancements in the fields of information technology (IT), artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and quantum computing, and cyber security necessitated that Pakistan should invest in the edu-cation and skill development of its youth.
While highlighting the importance of cyber security, he said that Pakistan should focus on strengthen-ing its cyber capabilities to protect the country and its people from the threats of cyber warfare.
Terming education and health as the central pillars to address poverty and ensure socio-economic de-velopment, the president underscored the need for checking population growth and providing quality education and health services to the people.
He regretted that almost 27 million children in Pakistan were out-of-schools and stressed the need to impart education to such children by adopting innovative solutions, especially online education, in ad-dition to brick-and-mortar infrastructure development in the education sector.
A day earlier, President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday called for promoting clean and environment-friendly transportation in the country to mitigate pollution and make Pakistan clean and green.
The president, talking to a delegation of a local electric bike manufacturing company, said that the use of green transportation could help reduce carbon emissions, environmental pollution, and Pakistan’s import bill for fossil fuels.
The senior officials of the federal ministries of industries and production and climate change also at-tended the meeting, a President House press release said.
Talking to the delegation, the president called for promoting efficient and climate-friendly transporta-tion technology to reduce environmental pollution as well as Pakistan’s reliance on traditional fuels.
He stated that new technologies were essential for the development of the country. He urged the business community to focus on industrial upgradation and modernization to remain competitive. President Alvi highlighted that modern transport technologies could help promote new industries in Pakistan and create more job opportunities for youth, besides improving the overall socio-economic condition of the country.
