Pakistan Composite Show held
Monday, December 10, 2012
From Print Edition
Rawalpindi
Pakistan Composite Show — a symposium, policy dialogue and industrial exhibition — was held here at Islamabad, says a press release.
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali was the chief guest. The Composites Engineering Research Group of Department of Mechanical Engineering (DME), NUST College of EME, organised the event.
At symposium around 150 senior academics, industrialists and government functionaries exchanged views to evolve a strategy for turning around the composites industry of Pakistan. An industrial exhibition was also held which featured over 20 companies and attracted over 500 visitors.
Dr. Rizwan Saeed Choudhry presented a proposal for a joint technology centre to be established with the combined efforts of private and government sectors. He said that based on the survey conducted by their group if this centre is established then the export volume of Pakistan can be increased by up to 10 times in next five to seven years.
The chief guest said that in today’s economic paradigm where defence deployments are being outsourced to private defence contractors by the developed countries, we must open up our public institutes for public-private partnership in the best interest of our nation. Therefore, from the government side I give full assurance that we will very carefully consider all the recommendations that come out of this policy dialogue and will make every endeavour to implement the recommendations in their true letter and spirit.
Commandant College of EME, Major General Obaid bin Zakria, appreciated the efforts of the whole organising team of Pakistan Composite Show. “I am particularly glad that despite the fact that this was the first-ever Composites Show in Pakistan; the accompanying exhibition has attracted more than 80% of the medium and high-tech industry in this sector.”
The event was also attended by senior officials including Secretary Defence Production Lieutenant General (r) Shahid Iqbal, former federal minister and Professor Emeritus NUST, Dr. Muhammad Akram Sheikh, British Council’s Director Education for Wider South Asia, Dr Nils Tomes, Chief Scientist AQ Khan Research Laboratories, Dr Muhammad Khawar Farooq, and senior officials and industrialists.
