We staked our politics for state’s survival’Shebaz
PM for owning IT talent through maximum financial, professional support,
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said Pakistan successfully averted the threat of default and added no mater which government comes in power after elections, together, we will change the fate of this country.
He made these remarks during a ceremony regarding development projects in Dera Ismail Khan.
While addressing the audience, PM Shehbaz Sharif stated that through our day and night hard work, we will change the destiny of this country. Yesterday, a decision was made to increase electricity prices on the strict conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He further mentioned that we had to go through negotiations and discussions with the IMF to sign the agreement, and conspiracies were also at their peak. The previous government broke the agreement after signing it, and we had to bear the consequences, he maintained.
If God forbid, the country defaults, my forehead would have been marked with shame, and my grave would have borne the inscription,
PM Shehbaz Sharif highlighted that when the coalition government took charge, the situation was difficult. During the course of our tenure, the largest and most devastating flood in history struck, affecting three crore (30 million) people across the country. The federal government distributed over 100 billion rupees to the affected families, younger Sharif said.
He stated that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman was ready to sacrifice the state for the sake of political showmanship, but our coalition government decided to sacrifice politics and save the state.
Shehbaz Sharif expressed that the Chairman of PTI could have empowered the youth if he wanted to. I served Punjab for ten years and provided jobs to millions of youth and distributed hundreds of thousands of laptops based on merit, he said.
While,
PM said that maximum financial and professional support to the youth was inevitable to untap their immense potential in information technology which could also guarantee the county’s prosperity.
The prime minister, addressing the launching ceremony of PM’s Freelancer and Venture Capital Initiative, and National Innovation Award Investor Connect here, said the network of incubation centers needed to be spread across the country by carving out maximum funding keeping in view the country’s future.
He said considering the talent and importance of the IT, Rs 2 billion allocated for venture capital was just “peanut”, though it was scraped by the government despite financial constraint.
The prime minister was “taken aback” as he visited the stalls and was briefed about the innovative projects prepared by the youngsters including drones for agriculture purposes, IT-led medical systems, and usage of banana peels for different products.
“I really salute all of you,” the prime minister remarked and particularly lauded Sahar Munir, a girl from Naushki for her vision and ideas to promote the IT sector.
He said the network of incubation centres should have been spread countrywide some 10 years ago and recalled the establishment of such a center at Arfa Karim Tower in 2009 while being the Punjab chief minister.
“This is the untapped talent across Pakistan which we have to own. This is our responsibility to arrange trainings and provide maximum funding,” he said and called for holding similar innovation award ceremonies in other parts of the country.
He said the funding for the IT endowment fund should be increased by billions annually to capacitate the youngsters and support their research and development.