KARACHI, Feb 3: President General Pervez Musharraf on Thursday outlined his vision of the country's space programme by laying down a clearly defined agenda for the national space agency, Suparco, to pursue and deliver in minimum time.

The president was speaking to scientists and engineers of Suparco during a visit here on Thursday, says an official statement. He said as an established and recognised nuclear and missile power, Pakistan's graduation to a power in space technology must be the next logical frontier in taking the country forward in the comity of technologically advanced nations of the world.

He said space was a common heritage of mankind and Pakistan would carve out a niche for itself in the peaceful exploitation and use of space for the benefit of its people. The president said Pakistan needed to make up for lost time and neglect of the past.

The government, he said, had put the space programme up front and on a fast track by taking a number of initiatives like revitalisation, restructuring, reorientation and modernisation of Suparco and bringing it on a par with other strategic organisations, investment in human resource development, assigning of a clear vision to be achieved in the areas of communications satellites, remote sensing satellites and satellite launching vehicles with the objective of bringing rapid growth and socio-economic development in the fields of mass education, information technology, communications, agriculture, mineral development, atmospheric sciences, environment and pollution monitoring, etc.

President Musharraf said it was incumbent on Suparco that with all the financial and administrative backing of the government, it must deliver on the objectives of the space vision.

He was confident that Pakistan would in the near future emerge strongly on the space map of the world and would be able to derive benefits for its people. The president was given a briefing by the chairman of Suparco, Maj-Gen (retd) Raza Hussain. -APP