Technology constraint has emerged as one of the main hurdles holding back Pakistan from achieving rapid socio-economic development and government should focus on introducing latest technologies in all sectors to revive economy and ensure sustainable growth of the country.

This was said by Zahid Maqbool, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) while exchanging views with a delegation of local businessmen.

He said Pakistan has not yet been able to make requisite advancement in modern technology in the fields of agriculture, industry, production, energy, infrastructure and many other areas due to which the country could not fully exploit untapped potential in many sectors of the economy.

He said adoption of new technologies becomes more significant for a developing country like Pakistan, particularly at a time when the level of competition, production processes and methods are rapidly changing and advancing on the globe.

Zahid Maqbool said government should lower tariffs on the import of latest technology & machinery for use in all sectors of the economy, which will help in improving the overall national productivity. It should also conduct surveys in industrial units and provide technical expertise to industries for applying modern technologies to reduce wastage and improve energy efficiency.

Seconding his views, the businessmen said that Pakistan is in fact facing a negative growth when inflation and other factors are taken into account. They said to improve growth prospects, extensive use of new technologies & R&D activities should be given high priority as it will result into high value addition in our products and services leading to better promotion of exports.

They said that Pakistan requires a high economic growth of 7 to 8 per cent to fight the rising poverty, create more exportable surplus, reduce rising trade gap and generate more revenues so that its mounting debt burden could be reduced.

Zahid Maqbool said that technological advancements are the only solution to the economic challenges being faced by the country and emphasized that both the public and private sectors should join hands to introduce new technologies for improving their enhancing their productivity. He said it will help the country to achieve the cherished goal of progress and prosperity.