Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said that Pakistan’s future economy must be driven by knowledge, technology, innovation and exports, stressing that the country’s youth must develop the ability to transform their knowledge and education into modern technological solutions and take Pakistani products to global markets.
He was addressing the concluding ceremony of the Digital Design and Verification Training Programme 2026 at the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI) on Friday.
Forty male and female students completed four months of training in the first phase of the programme.
Ahsan Iqbal said the young graduates were not merely receiving certificates today, but were laying the foundation for Pakistan to move forward in a new and strategically important field of technology. He said a tiny silicon chip was now playing a fundamental role in driving the global economy, whether in laptops, automobiles or advanced machinery, highlighting the importance of semiconductor technology across virtually every sector.
The Federal Minister said that semiconductor and chip-design capabilities were becoming the foundation of the modern economy, while skilled human resources and design capabilities were essential for developing any emerging technological sector. He expressed the hope that Pakistani youth would, in the future, succeed in building globally competitive unicorn companies.
He said artificial intelligence was transforming the way people worked, learned, received healthcare, conducted industry and approached defence, while quantum computing was challenging the limits of conventional computing. Robotics, cybersecurity, biotechnology and space technology were increasingly converging, he added, but at the heart of all these technologies was the chip. “The brain of artificial intelligence is a chip, the nervous system of a modern vehicle is a chip, and satellites are guided by chips,” he said.
The Federal Minister said that in the present era, acquiring education alone was not enough; young people must develop the ability to transform knowledge into technology and technology into exports. Pakistan, he said, needed to develop products capable of competing in international markets and establish a strong global identity for “Made in Pakistan” products.
Ahsan Iqbal appreciated the role of GIKI in providing Pakistan with high-quality human capital, saying the institution was a source of pride for the nation. He recalled that when he initiated Vision 2010, GIKI was among the first institutions he visited.
He said the development of nations depended on their collective confidence and self-belief. When a nation lost confidence in itself, negative thinking began to dominate, he added. He observed that in the contemporary era, wars were fought not only with weapons but also through psychological warfare and communication channels, making it essential to promote positive thinking and self-confidence among the youth.
The Federal Minister said Pakistan needed an education system that developed the ability of young people to think, understand, conduct research and create. He stressed the need for curricular reforms that could further unlock the intellectual and creative potential of students. He said the Holy Quran also encouraged reflection and the pursuit of knowledge, which should be integrated into the national development process.
Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan had achieved significant milestones in various fields, including becoming a nuclear power. However, a comparative assessment with other countries showed that political instability, lack of policy continuity, law-and-order challenges and insufficient reforms had affected the pace of development.
He said that under Vision 2025, progress had been made in overcoming electricity load-shedding and terrorism, establishing peace and stability, and advancing major initiatives such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He recalled that in 2018, PricewaterhouseCoopers had also projected that Pakistan could become one of the world’s 20 largest economies by 2030 if it continued to develop at the same pace.
The Federal Minister stressed that continuity of policies was essential for national development and that Pakistan’s development journey must be protected from repeated disruptions.
Referring to the “Battle of Truth”, Ahsan Iqbal said the achievement and progress on the diplomatic front had contributed to projecting a positive image of Pakistan globally.
The next step, he said, was to transform the “Battle of Truth” into a “Battle for Development” by further strengthening the national economy.
He said Pakistan needed to establish its global identity as a knowledge-, technology- and innovation-driven economy. In 2017, seven National Centres had been established in the fields of Big Data and Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Automation and Robotics, GIS and Space Technology, Applied Mathematics, and Livestock and Genomics.
He said the establishment of Quantum Valley Pakistan following these initiatives was another important step towards ushering Pakistan into a new era of advanced technology, research and innovation.
Ahsan Iqbal stressed that Pakistan needed to prepare a generation of young people capable not only of creating employment opportunities for themselves but also of developing globally competitive products and services to increase the country’s exports.
This version is deliberately written in a newspaper-friendly style, with the strongest news angle in the opening and the technical/chip message given prominent space.
