Agriculture, electronics and manufacturing top priorities of govt: Fawad Chaudhry

Islamabad: Ch Fawad Hussain, Federal Minister for Science and Technology has said agriculture, electronics and manufacturing of electric vehicles are three top priorities.

The Minister was addressing a technical session on the last day of the 4-day 23rd Sustainable Development Conference on ‘Sustainable Development in the Times of COVID-19’ organised here by Sustainable Development Policy Institute.

Ch Fawad said that the emergence of technology affected all the areas of the traditional economy. This is fourth-generation industrial revolution, where ideas took over labour and capital. He said that advanced countries kept parallel both the civil and defence engineering advancement.

He was of the view that an investment-based health sector should be promoted and private partners should be encouraged to invest as it has huge potential. The minister further said that he has been a great advocate of privatisation and wants the government should limit itself only to regulation. In response to a question related to interdepartmental coordination and consensus on these areas, he said we must promote local partnerships, especially in manufacturing solar panels and batteries with China.

To a question about synchronising academia with industries, he said that at least 40 universities were tasked to adopt schools for Stem Education. Wendy Gilmour, Canadian High Commissioner, said that the donor community intervention should be evidence-based despite the fact that data collection itself is a challenging job.

She also launched the National Population Analysis, which highlighted the inequalities existing in the system. We need the baseline data in decision-making, she said, adding that support will be provided to Pakistan and developmental partners. She said that community-based social organisations are challenged by the registration process and they face a lot in collecting data.