RAWALPINDI, May 8: The country will never be able to keep pace with economic and social development at the international level unless it allocates a major chunk of its budget for the promotion of education.

This was stated by the deputy chairman, Planning Commission, Dr Mohammad Akram Shaikh, here on Saturday. He was the chief guest at the Nust Institute of Management Sciences (Nims)'s Annual Open House (job fair), 2004.

The event provided a common platform to prospective employers and business executives to meet and interact with Nims' MBA and BBA students. A large number of leading business firms participated in the event.

Mr Shaikh said during the last two to four decades the country's economy had failed to boom like its neighbours and other advanced countries mainly due to its inability to spend, like other economically-developed countries, more on education, particularly higher education and technical skills.

It was unfortunate that the defence of the entire Muslim world, including Pakistan, was dependent on imported hardware. The entire Muslim world was merely depending on their natural resources and had failed to utilize their human resources and develop them according to the international market.

He underlined the role of academia in furnishing industry with high quality human resources for enhancing productivity and in maintaining competitive edge.

Commenting on the brain drain issue, Mr Shaikh asked the students to "please remain in Pakistan. Because, this is your own country and it could only be developed through proper utilization of your talents and labour".

He also hoped that the event would offer the corporate representatives an insight into the talent that Nims was producing.

The Nust rector, Lt-Gen (retired) Syed Shujaat Hussain, in his address, mentioned that the academia and corporate sector shared allied interests which were best served by the creation of viable platform facilitating mutually advantageous interaction.

He said if business institutes started producing the kind of graduates truly needed by the industry, there were good chances that even developing countries like Pakistan could make progress in the economic and social sectors. Nims, he said, was just striving to mould talent according to the market demand.

Nims Director-General Dr Dilawar Ali Khan also briefed the participants about the academic activities of Nims and its future plans.

The event had two sessions. At the end of the first session, the Nust rector presented shield to the chief guest and appreciated the energetic team of organizers comprising the faculty and students, who, according to him, had put their untiring efforts to make the event a success.

During the second session the representatives of various organizations gave presentations about their organizations and the nature of talent they needed for promotion of their products, services and ideas.