Rector CIIT Dr S.M. Junaid Zaidi welcomed the Minister and thanked him for sparing the time for sharing his views with students. Highlighting some of CIIT's achievements, he informed that the Institute had over 1,000 PhDs among its 4,000-stong faculty, who had collectively published over 1,200 last year and its student enrolment had now exceeded 40,000.
The Minister commenced with a historical background of Pakistan's development journey, when in 1960 it was predicted to become the "next Japan or Korea," but missed the boat. Subsequently, many opportunities came but could not be exploited due to political instability. He stressed that if we were to lose the current opportunity - China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - "it would be very difficult for us to get our act together for a long time to come."
Thus, it must be underlined that political stability and continuity of policies are crucial to economic and social development of any nation. 'Vision 2025' has its roots in 'Vision 2010,' presented by the PML-N led government in 1998, when the need for transforming Pakistan into a knowledge-based economy was recognised for the first time and also backed by budgetary allocation. Only 300 PhDs in science and technology existed at the time.
The Minister said, even a bank does not give a small business loan without first demanding a business plan. Then how could a country be expected to function without a long term vision, he questioned. Only when our priorities are in order, we can translate individual excellence into collective competence, which is a prerequisite of development. Iqbal then dilated upon seven pillars of the strategy that 'Vision 2025' envisages.-PR