ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Adviser Mussadiq Malik on Thursday urged the private sector to take the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor venture forward by capitalising on the opportunities it was offering.
He was speaking at a conference organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) under “Shaping the Future Connecting the Dots – Learn – Leverage – Lead” at a hotel.
“The government has done its part and the private sector must step in to keep the government out of it. We have placed this bet on you, the people, the entrepreneurs, the private sector and the young generation. Go and explore,” Malik said while explaining that even if the loan from China was costly, Pakistan will be able to return the debt once work on the project is complete with a state-of-the-art infrastructure in place.
The conference, attended by top financial professionals, chartered accountants, business leaders and entrepreneurs, aimed at looking at the shifts in technological and transformations that are going to challenge the existing set ups and business models, the strategies business leaders, financial institutions and organizations will need to put in place to catch up with the new trends to be relevant in the future.
Malik said the CPEC was “growth-focused, employment intensive and equity-oriented” and it will be most cost-effective. While elaborating the points, he said that each project under the CPEC has investment of over $1billion and the whole of Pakistan has been given an equal share.
Talking about the debt the CPEC may bring in its wake, Malik said that Pakistan had no choice but to embrace the project and the finance to develop its infrastructure, set up energy projects, develop Gwadar Port and other communications and transportation networks. In the last 20 years, no government worked to take Pakistan out of darkness and its infrastructure was in tatters. It is the current government which has initiate work on mega projects to secure the country’s future, he said.
He said that there was not a single part of Pakistan which was not covered by CPEC. He gave the example that two largest coal-powered plants were being set up in Port Qasim, wind powered plants in Gharo Sindh, 5000 to 6000 MW hydro projects worth $8 billion in remote areas of Pakistan, four to five theme parks/zones in each province. “Work on all three corridors in Pakistan is ongoing simultaneously and we shall make what we want for our children,” he emphasized.
“Whether it is bane or boon, Pakistan has accepted the challenge and we will take it to the logical conclusion notwithstanding the unfounded and groundless tittle-tattle making the rounds every now and then,” Malik made it clear.
ICAP President Nadeem Yousaf Adil welcomed the participants at the 16th consecutive CFO Conference in Pakistan. He highlighted the various initiatives ICAP has taken for the development of its members, finance professionals and for overall public interest. He talked about the launch of Edhi CA Talent Hunt Programme and the ICAP Endowment Fund, through which thousands of deserving students are being provided scholarships to pursue their dream of CA Pakistan.
ICAP South Vice President Khalilullah Sheikh said the ICAP increased its outreach significantly in the last few years by opening up six more offices in various cities of Pakistan, from the hills of North to the plains of south. He advised finance professionals to continue to learn and adapt, to have the right mindset, skill set and toolset to lead into the future.
Dr Jose Cordeiro, founder and president emeritus, World Future Society, said, “Technological progress was going on at such a fast speed that in the next 20 years we will have devices, which will have more power than human brain.”
While sharing captivating slides on new trends, he said, “We are going to see magic in the next 20 or so years, as almost all diseases will be curable”.
“Technology is changing exponentially and in the next one decade cancer will be totally curable as Microsoft is working on it, life expectancy will increase, aging will decrease, and even one will be able to change gene of ones offspring and one would be able to know about his or her genealogical tree through “genome”.
He said that due to technological advancement, there will be no garbage or waste unattended in the next few years.
“In the next 20 years we will be able to replicate brain, as Google wants to have the “3rd have” of your brain. In the next some years, we will be able to talk from brain to brain through telepathy. Even we will have ‘humanite robots’ as Japan is working on it,” he said.
“In the next few years, manual cars will be replaced by intelligence-driven cars. We are probably the last generation to drive the manual cars,” Dr Jose said. “The whole world will go online and we will have free internet in the next 2 years. In the next 20 years we are going to see changes we have not seen in the last 2000 years.”
