Pakistan seeks early progress on US Knowledge Corridor to produce 10,000 PhDs

Highly qualified human resource is key to Pakistan's rapid development

Seeking early progress on Pakistan US Knowledge Corridor, Islamabad has said 10,000 Pakistanis doing PhDs in the next ten years from American universities under the program will contribute significantly to the South Asian country’s economic advancement.

Prof. Ahsan Iqbal, who is federal minister for planning, development and reform, met with US State Department and USAID officials on Wednesday.

The meeting reviewed the progress in implementation of the “Pakistan US Knowledge Corridor,” proposed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his last official visit to Washington in October 2015, the Pakistani embassy said.

The initiative to train 10,000 Ph.Ds in next ten years at top US universities is a critical element of Vision 2025, which seeks to put Pakistan in top 25 economies of the world, Iqbal said.

Recently, Islamabad approved funds for this project, with the first phase to cost Rs 18.5 billion.

Building on the discussions held during the last meeting of the Working Group on Education, Science and Technology, Iqbal said :

“Pakistan is fast emerging as a success story in Asia due to economic reforms introduced by the government.
China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has put Pakistan in global investment map. The government is committed to developing quality human resource for the future of country to transform Pakistan’s economy into a Knowledge Economy.”

Ahsan Iqbal urged the US officials to expedite the necessary formalities particularly the internal coordination between the relevant US agencies in order to facilitate the early rollout of this critical initiative for development of Pakistan’s human resource.

The US officials assured the Minister that they were working with the concerned departments in order to complete the necessary work. A visit by the relevant US officials was expected in the next few weeks to complete the formalities for early commencement of the initiative, the Pakistani embassy said.

Upon request of the US officials, Minister Iqbal also briefed about the major projects in the domain of energy and infrastructure development under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Ahsan Iqbal is visiting Washington DC to attend the annual National Prayer Breakfast ceremony.

Categories
EducationOpinionUS-Pakistan relationsWashington D.C.

Huma Nisar is Associate Editor at Views and News
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