LAHORE: Science and Technology (S&T) Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain hassaid that the government was focusing on biotechnology to ensure itscontribution to GDP up to 4pc and increasing its exports to $4 billionwithin next 10 years.
Addressing a news conference at the PCSIR Complex, he said that Pakistancould not overcome deficit through wheat, cotton and textile products alone.
That was why, the government was focusing on innovative technologies inevery field, he added.
The minister said that the process to shortlist astronauts for Pakistan’sfirst Space Mission-2022 would be initiated by February 2020, assertingthat the country would send its first space mission in collaboration withChina.
He said that this year, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) governmentincreased the S&T sector budget by 600 times. “As we have the full supportof Prime Minister Imran Khan, this budget will be enhanced by 1,000 timesin the next financial year,” he added.
Fawad said that after the 1970s, Pakistan succeeded in entering the worldarena of science and technology again, citing that the SCO (ShanghaiCooperation Organisation) also recognised that Pakistan had staged itscomeback in the field of science and technology.
He said that the government had also made efforts to change the energyscene, adding that Pakistan’s entire engineering sector suffered a lot asthe country could not manufacture a combustion engine over the last 30years.
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“But today, the government was focused on revamping the system by settingup targets,” he added.
With active support of PM Imran Khan and Climate Change Minister AminAslam, he said Pakistan would be able to manufacture solar panels withinnext one-and-a-half years, and “we would also be manufacturing lithiumbatteries”.
He said that future was of lithium batteries and the world had now switchedover to powerful lithium batteries, adding that Pakistan should also havefollowed the suit because new innovative technologies would change theentire power distribution system within the next 10 to 15 years.
He claimed that Pakistan would become the first country in South Asiamanufacturing solar panels and lithium batteries which would be the basisof the country’s advancement in the field of science and technology.
“Pakistan would again be the first in South Asia introducingbattery-operated buses, as two Chinese companies in Pakistan were at finalstage to manufacture such buses, which would also be operated in Lahore andother major cities.”
