Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice Chairman Mazen Batterjee underlined the constructive role being played by the Pakistani engineers in the development of the Kingdom as also in helping develop the talent and skills of young Saudis and Pakistani workers mainly in the field of engineering and technocracy.

He was speaking as chief guest at the annual engineering workshop, ‘Pakistan a way forward,’ organized by the Engineers Welfare Forum (EWF) at the JCCI auditorium, and which was attended by hundreds of engineers, technocrats, businessmen and scholars.

Batterjee praised EWF for holding several workshops through Vocational Training Institute, which he said, is beneficial for the country as well as the talented young engineers and technocrats who need consistent honing of their talents.

In his keynote speech, Pakistan’s top businessman, Haroon Khan, delineated the challenges Pakistan facing in the areas of economy, energy and extremism.

Khan is the managing director of Pakistan’s leading electrical manufacturer Pakistan Elektron Ltd (PEL).

He compared Pakistan’s GDP with those of other countries to drive home the point that “our debt is not as alarming as media portrays.”

Pakistan is the fourth largest rice producer in the world, has the second largest salt mines, occupies fifth position in the production of milk and is one of the largest fruit producers.

“Our defense and ammunition industries are well recognized and JF-17 Thunder aircraft is well-accepted in the world, which has capability of refueling in air,” he said.

He said Pakistan has a very young and talented population. “About 90 million of Pakistan population is below 25 years of age and our engineering talents is the seventh biggest in the world,” he said.

Khan however rued the fact that the country has “not able to take advantage of the talent though 57 percent of world’s trade is from engineering products, which Pakistan is not active in it.”

EWF President Abdul Aleem Khan earlier gave an update of his forum’s activities and said EWF is working with JCCI and the Vocational Training Institute and this was the very first Pak-Saudi Educational Joint Venture, which will be very beneficial for the Saudi and Pakistani students and technicians in professional skill development.

Aleem Khan thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman for maintaining fraternal relationship between the two countries and hosting millions of Pakistanis working in this country.

Head of JCCI, engineering section, Talal Samarkandi spoke on “Individual Development” and elaborated how “we can make our dream homes and what really do we require for its accomplishment.”

President of the Institution of Engineers Pakistan (IEP), Saudi Chapter, Syed Jaleel Hassan, spoke on “Engineering Development is the Key to Industry.”

Altaf Hussain Awan, chairman of the advisory board, gave concluding remarks about the presentations done by all the speakers in the workshop.

Apart from Pakistani engineers, many guests from Saudi Council of Engineers, Jeddah Chambers of Commerce and other professionals also participated in the workshop.

Masroor Elahi, the general secretary of EWF, conducted the workshop, which started with a recitation of verses from the Holy Qur’an by Qari Muhammad Asif.

The workshop distributed shields of appreciation to Haroon Khan, Mazen Batterjee and also to EWF members Zaheer Qayum, Humayun Hussain Taqi and Syed Ehsanul Haque for their dedication and participation for the activities of forum.