ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said that the role of space technology for a country’s socioeconomic development is inevitable while Pakistan has to achieve a lot to compete with the world.
The minister made these remarks while addressing the seminar titled, “Role of Space Technologies for Sustainable Socioeconomic Development of Pakistan,” jointly organised by the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives on Monday.
The seminar was attended by the secretary Planning Commission, chief economist, chairman SUPARCO, and officials from the ministries and divisions.
Space technology has become a centerpiece as every sector whether education, agriculture, health and climate change is linked with it, said the minister, while addressing the participants of the seminar.
The minister further said that huge transformational changes are going on in various fields particularly in robotic and bio technology, however, space technology plays a key role and Pakistan needs to expedite its effort to compete with the world.
The minister also underlined several development projects in which space technology played a vital role in the saving of cost of the projects. Due to political instability in the country, Pakistan could not achieve such targets which other countries had achieved due to their continuity of policies, said the minister, while stressing the ministries and divisions to benefit from the information being shared by the SUPARCO.
Secretary Ministry of Planning Commission Syed Zafar Ali Shah, in his remarks, said space technology has a key role in the country’s development and it has been placed in SDGs to get the desired results.
“The ministry always takes initiatives to bring advanced technology and Geo-Spatial Technology Cell is of the example which was recently established at Planning Ministry,” he added.
He also highlighted that this technology helped the government in recent floods particularly, in Post-Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA). Space technology played a vital role in confronting countless challenges in the fields of climate change, resource monitoring, disaster management and mitigation of health and education, he said.
The Chief Economist, Ministry of Planning Commission, Nadeem Javed, gave a detailed presentation while highlighting the PSDP projects which have a positive impact on space technology.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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