President Dr Arif Alvi has said that a country’s socio-economic prosperity depends on both its natural and human resources development. Addressing the "G-B Dream Road Show," organized by the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government, he said that for the country to develop, intelligence, policy consistency, avoiding ambiguity, and active cooperation are necessary.

In order to promote the Gilgit-Baltistan region's tourism, the president said he constantly serves as its ambassador. Visitors should be assisted, he added. The biggest attraction of tourism for a visitor is simple and quick access to the location. The G-B, according to President Alvi, is abundant in natural resources such minerals, gems, and fruits. He said that cutting and polishing gemstones with scientific procedures could be learnt in a relatively short amount of time.

The president emphasised the significance of IT skills for the youths of G-B and said that those who possess them may support themselves by providing their services to clients in other countries through online platforms while residing in Pakistan. He said that the information technology industry can give women job opportunities that allow them to work from home.

The Prime Minister's Digital Skills Programme, Digiskills, has benefited around 2.4 million individuals from diverse academic backgrounds, he said. Such programmes may be duplicated to teach essential and marketable digital skills to the young and women of the country, he added. A student from the G-B who participates in the Digiskills curriculum earns close to $100,000.

According to President Alvi, drip farming and vertical farming offer the G-B significant prospects in the agricultural sector. The G-B has the capacity to both meet its own food needs and export food overseas, much like the Netherlands, which is 19 times smaller than Pakistan but the second-largest food producer in the world. He said that while community involvement is necessary for development, the people of G-B should be actively involved in fostering growth in the region.

Speaking on the occasion, G-B Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid Khan said Gilgit-Baltistan was previously under-resourced, and the money that was provided was mostly spent for salary-related obligations. He said that over the previous two years, the government of G-B has increased funding for development.

He said that his government's priorities are on the side of development, focusing on increasing road connectivity with the rest of the country through various routes, reforming the education sector, bolstering the agriculture sector to address the issue of food shortages, enhancing the health sector, and bringing about changes to the local government system.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk