Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said knowledge economy was the best option for Pakistan to capitalize its large youth pool and immense talent for scientific innovation and technical productivity.

“Now is the time for the country to discover its own path leading towards a system based on scientific and technical production to ensure economic growth,” he said while addressing the inauguration of Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (PAF-IAST) at Mang, Haripur.

Established with assistance of the government of Austria, the institute will contribute to Pakistan’s high-tech industrial economy and higher education in engineering and technology. It also aims to set up an integrated technology park with business incubation centres and shell units for small and medium-sized enterprises.

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Prime Minister Imran Khan said investment in education would ensure a bright and prosperous future for the coming generations. Imran Khan said he was considering diverting all money recovered by Asset Recovery Unit from the corrupt towards education sector.

He said ‘dependency syndrome’ was the main reason behind the country’s distraction from the path of struggle and development. “The mindset of depending on the West and not relying on our own potential prevails. Why can’t we produce our own scientists and make inventions and patents,” he questioned.

The Prime Minister gave reference of tech giants Microsoft and Facebook, which due to making strides in science and technology, had a worth bigger than Pakistan’s budget.

He said Singapore boasted $330 billion exports compared with Pakistan’s $25 billion as it entirely adopted science and technology, besides Malaysia that made an imprint in electronics as encouraged by leader Dr Mahathir Mohammed.

The Prime Minister expressed confidence that the Fachhochschule Institute of Austria’s top university would prove a hub of science and technology and also a platform for Pakistani youth to excel.

He mentioned that China’s collaboration with Pakistan had transformed into industrial cooperation as the two countries entered the second phase of China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

He said campuses of five Chinese and three Austrian universities would be opened in Pakistan as the country set eyes on learning Artificial Intelligence and Big Data for systemic data processing.

The Prime Minister lauded the cooperation extended by the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa government in materializing the project, saying that time would prove its benefits for the country.