President Dr Arif Hussain Alvi has said solar is the cheapest source of energy and Pakistan can meet its energy needs by generating abundant electricity through solar technology, reported 24NewsHd TV channel.
He was speaking at a conference titled, “Yeh Watan Tumhara Hai, Tum Ho Pasban Iske” organised by the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries on Saturday.
The president said he would again write a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner for holding a meeting so that election dates for KP and Punjab could be announced as per the constitutional requirement.
Dr Alvi said it was a constitutional requirement to hold elections within 90 days of the dissolution of any assembly so matters should be settled as per the constitution.
The President said in India, 100% children go to primary school, 98% in Bangladesh and 99% in Sri Lanka while we have only 68% children enrolled in schools which is a matter of concern.
Responding to a question, he said the implementation of the constitution is the solution to all problems and all stakeholders must sit together to steer the country out of the prevailing crisis.
Dr Alvi said the economic condition of the country was not so good, but the solution of all these problems lies in the continuity of democracy.
“The IMF is a lending institution and before giving money, it wants to see how we will repay that amount,” he hinted.
He said oil lobby kept us away from Thar coal, making us to waste 10 to 15 years before benefiting from it.
While giving credit to the former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Dr Alvi said due to his efforts, Pakistan was able to launch nuclear programme which enabled us to generate electricity from nuclear sources and got a 40 to 50 years umbrella. The same programme prevents our enemy from attacking us, he added.
Referring to the food abundance, President said we need to work in that regard through Agriculture University Tandojam and other research institutes.
He said the Netherlands is a country 16 times smaller than Pakistan, but it is the second largest food exporter in the world.
He also urged agriculturalists to go to Faisalabad and the Arid University and conduct research on low-water consuming crops to achieve the goal of food security.
President Alvi termed IT and Textile as potential sectors for enhancing exports of the country and urged the industrialists to pay more attention to both these sectors.
He also suggested the business community to engage more women in trade and business activities as no sector will flourish without their full participation.
He said there was a shortage of human resources all over the world and we should fill this gap by providing training to the youth.
He said that IT was the only sector where our females can work at home and they may be able to work not only for the country but also for the industry of the whole world through the internet.
He also referred to the Prime Minister’s Youth Development programme initiated by the previous government and said it provided training to 2.4 million youths.
In response to HCCI’s charter of economy proposal, the president said it was very difficult to bring all stakeholders together and for this purpose people should have to leave their ego behind.
The President said he tried his best to get everyone sit together but no one was ready to do so while the situation of the country was very bad and there was a need to keep all opposition aside to save the country from drowning.
Dr Alvi said he will continue his efforts to take all stakeholders to table so that the crisis could be ended with joint efforts.
He said like China, we should keep our focus on health and education as both the sectors will take our country to the path of success.
The President said democracy could be strengthened by implementing the constitution so elections must be held as per the constitutional requirement.