ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Developing and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal Monday informed the Senate that various sectors were identified under Vision 2025 to boost economy adding that Pakistan's economy would be among top 25 economies of the world.
Winding debate on a motion moved by Azam Khan Swati about situation arising out of high rate of unemployment in the country,
the minister said the country's economy had been declared as an emerging economy by the world known economists. Owing to the steps taken by the government for economic revival, the growth has touched to 5.5 per cent during the current year while it would be 6 per cent next year.
Regarding unemployment, the minister said unemployment ratio has slightly reduced during the last three years. However, he said it was not satisfactory and there had to do more in this regard.
He said country's economy was stagnant at 2.5 per cent during last few years while energy crisis also badly suffered the SME sector in the country.
He said 5000 general degree holder youth would be imparted technical training of one semester to make their qualifications relevant to the market.
Ahsan said the government had already started a number of projects for capacity building of the youth.
Various schemes including PM Youth Business Programme, Skill Development Programme and Hunarmand Pakistan Programme were launched to empower youth, he added.
He said that the economy of the country was moving upward and it would further strengthen in future due to development projects initiated by the government.
The minister said the completion of these projects would not only open new job opportunities.
He said the government also took serious steps to overpower energy crisis in the country which had badly crippled the industries and industrial growth. The country's total power generation capacity was around 16,000 MW to 17,000 MW since 1947 adding that 11,000 MW was being added to the system by 2018.
He said it would also help revive industries and SME sector in the country.
Regarding China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the minister said more industrial units would be set up resulting more employment opportunities to Pakistani youth.
He said baseless propaganda was propagated to sabotage CPEC which would be a game changer in the region.
Ahsan said a comprehensive package was also announced for textile sector which would help boost the industry.
Regarding recruitment, the minister said all recruitment were being made strictly on merit.
Earlier, the Senators urged the government to take solid measures to address unemployment issue.
They also called for imparting vocational and technical education to the youth.
They said that proper planning should be made for next 20-30 years to properly address the issue.
These who participated in the discussion included Azam Swati, Sehar Kamran, Mir Kabeer, Abdul Qayyum, Nihal Hashmi, Usman Kakar, Nouman Wazir and Mohsin Aziz.
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