President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday called for enhancing engagement with the youth of Balochistan and prioritise investment in human resource development for prosperity of the people.
The president, talking to the students of Cadet College, Kohlu, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, called for fully developing and benefiting from the marine and land-based natural resources of the province to deliver economic growth.
He said that the national and provincial leadership had a responsibility to develop strong political relationships with the people of the province through increased interactions and confidence building. He especially emphasized engaging the youth of the province to motivate and enable them to play their role in provincial and national development.
President Alvi said that Balochistan was a mineral-rich province and that Reko Diq and other such projects in future could make Balochistan prosper in a short period of time.
He said that Balochistan’s natural resources could be fully developed by benchmarking best global practices, discouraging corruption and corrupt practices, and utilizing human resources optimally with definite goals, KPIs and time-lines. He termed eliminating nepotism, uprooting corruption in all of its forms, promoting merit, and transparency as essential for building a strong and prosperous nation.
The president said that political stability, curbing corruption, strengthening institutional framework and focusing on skill development could lead the province towards rapid progress and development. He regretted that due to various reasons Pakistan could not achieve its rightful place in the comity of nations.
Replying to a question, the president said that political stability and continuation of policies were keys for achieving financial and socio-economic stability, and promoting trade and investment in the country. He said that all stakeholders should set aside their enmity, ego and extreme behaviour, keep the greater national interest supreme and develop consensus through democratic means for holding free, fair and impartial elections to let people choose their representatives.
Answering a question, the president said the students should continue the pursuit of knowledge throughout their lives, hone their skills continuously, and set the right priorities for themselves while keeping their moral, ethical and family values intact. He advised them to maintain humane behaviour and observe humility in their conduct as they would not only advance in their careers but would also get happiness and satisfaction in life.
The president appreciated the Cadet Colleges of Pakistan for producing quality graduates, who after graduating, were serving the Pakistan Armed Forces and in other fields as physicians, engineers and businessmen.
The Cadet College, Kohlu was announced in 2006 and the first batch of Cadets was inducted in 2016 that passed out in 2022.
Separately, President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday urged Pakistan’s newly appointed ambassador to Greece to promote trade and economic ties between the two countries and make efforts to expand bilateral trade to its true potential.
The president, talking to Ambassador-designate to the Hellenic Republic (Greece) Muhammad Aamir Aftab Qureshi, said in addition to working on traditional areas of trade and economic cooperation, new areas of cooperation should also be identified.
He said developing close linkages between the chambers of commerce of Pakistan and Greece would help in promoting bilateral trade and investment, which currently stood at $101 million during 2021 and had the potential to be substantially increased with cogent and targeted efforts.
President Alvi said the ambassador should benchmark the best tourism practices of Greece, being one of the top tourism destinations, and try to create linkages between Greece and Pakistan’s tourist industries. He called for projecting Pakistan as an attractive tourist destination for Greek tourists and expressed satisfaction that Greek mountaineers, hikers and travel bloggers visited Pakistan regularly.
The president advised the ambassador-designate to keep regular contact with the Pakistani community in Greece and resolve their issues and problems regarding consular services. He also emphasised creating close linkages with the National Database Regulatory Authority and Passport Office in Pakistan and help the community in resolving their concerns about the consular services.
He commented that the developed countries were currently spending billions of dollars to stop and curb non-formal immigration from less developed countries.
“Instead, efforts should be targeted to create peace in the conflict zones and help the least developed countries improve financially and economically, which will create enabling conditions, jobs, and minimise formal immigration attempts”, he stated. The president said efforts should also be made to improve the perception of Pakistan in Greece by promoting Pakistan’s hospitality, which had hosted some four million Afghan refugees for 40 years, and its excellent treatment of the minorities, which were living peacefully.
He said the innocent Kashmiris were facing brutality at the hands of occupation forces in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
