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ISLAMABAD, Oct 07 (APP):Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Professor Ahsan Iqbal here on Tuesday emphasized the need for export-led growth, youth empowerment, technological innovation and policy stability to ensure Pakistan’s sustained economic.
Addressing the Finance Leaders Conference, the minister said Pakistan’s economic indicators were showing improvement as the Pakistan Stock Exchange had surged by five percent, crossing the 165,000-point mark and ranking among the best-performing markets in the world, reflecting growing investor confidence in the country’s future.
Highlighting Pakistan’s strengthening economic diplomacy, he said the government was deepening its partnership with China under CPEC 2.0, which now focuses on industrial and technological cooperation.
At the same time, Pakistan was expanding trade and investment ties with the United States, European Union, Middle East, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. He noted that the Prime Minister’s recent visit to Malaysia was part of this broader outreach.
He said connectivity projects like the Main Line-1 (ML-1) railway from Karachi to Peshawar and the Karakoram Highway upgrade would bring regions and people closer, while 1,000 Pakistani agricultural scientists and researchers had been sent to China for advanced training in mechanization and technology-driven farming.
Calling finance professionals the “custodians of Pakistan’s economic destiny,” he urged them to balance ambition with accountability, growth with governance, and ensure that plans translate into tangible progress.
He identified three key national priorities, leading with exports through productivity and competitiveness, empowering youth to drive innovation and digital entrepreneurship, and putting people first by ensuring that every rupee contributes to job creation and social inclusion.
Professor Iqbal said these goals were being advanced under the government’s “Uraan Pakistan” framework, based on five pillars — Exports, e-Pakistan, Environment and Climate Change, Energy and Infrastructure, and Equity and Empowerment.
He added that a National Artificial Intelligence Ecosystem had been launched alongside a National AI Policy and a task force to accelerate AI adoption in the economy, governance and society.
He said that under CPEC 2.0, regulatory approvals were being streamlined to enhance export competitiveness and create a facilitative environment where the private sector could thrive. “Our next growth story must be export-led,” he stressed, adding that Pakistan was shifting from consumption to production and from import dependence to export dominance.
The minister said Pakistan’s exports were diversifying beyond textiles into pharmaceuticals, agricultural value chains, information technology, minerals and creative industries. He pointed out that pharmaceutical exports grew by 35 percent last year and, with continued policy support, the sector could become a billion-dollar success story.
Through digital trade, special economic zones and modern logistics, he added, Pakistan was laying the foundation for an export ecosystem capable of driving the country toward a $1 trillion economy by 2035.
Introducing what he termed the “Atomic Model of Success,” the minister drew inspiration from Pakistan’s nuclear programme, saying it succeeded because it followed six timeless principles — shared vision and purpose, stability of leadership, meritocracy, investment in human capital, provision of resources, and functional autonomy.
He said these principles, if applied across all sectors, could transform Pakistan’s economy. “If we apply the atomic model to our industries and institutions, Pakistan will not just rise, it will soar,” he remarked.
Ahsan Iqbal emphasized that the 2020s must be the decade of transformation, urging all stakeholders to move “from firefighting to future building, from politics to policy, and from individual ambition to collective mission.”
He said real success lay not in individual brilliance but in collective competence, adding that unity, teamwork and national purpose were essential for progress.
The minister said Pakistan was “rising again — not merely from crisis but toward a new identity.” He said the government was rebuilding not only the economy but also confidence, renewing not only systems but the national spirit.
“Pakistan’s rise will be powered by ethical finance, innovation, technology and shared purpose,” he affirmed, adding that “finance without foresight leads to folly, and intelligence without ethics leads to chaos.”
“When finance serves people and numbers serve the nation, we do not just predict the future — we shape it,” he said, urging all stakeholders to embrace the atomic model of excellence and make the country’s economic flight Uraan “permanent, powerful and irreversible.”
“Together, with unity, merit and vision, we will build the Pakistan we all dream of — strong, stable and successful,” he concluded.