KARACHI, May 27: “Self-reliance is not a buzzword but a target that we have in front of us. We need to enhance our technological know-how through higher education and research and development,” said Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Shahid Karimullah.

He was addressing a technical seminar held at the Pakistan Navy Engineering College here on Tuesday.

He said the Navy was fully committed and would exploit all avenues to acquire higher education. He added that the Pakistan Navy Engineering College and Maritime Technological Complex had to play a pivotal role in that respect.

He stressed that collaboration with the local high-tech agencies would have to be further enhanced.

Talking about the first paper read on “Availability, Reliability and Maintainability” he said the subject was extremely important and needed to receive full attention at the time of acquisition of the machinery, equipment, weapons and platforms.

The subject, he said, had become all the more important in view of our indigenous ship construction programme.

Commenting on the second paper presented by a panel of officers on the “Weapons and Ammunition Supportability, he praised the ordnance branch for finding indigenous solutions to the problems.

Giving his remarks on the third paper, he emphasized the need for higher education in the Navy.

Earlier, in his welcome address commanding officer of the PN Engineering College, Commodore Saeed Qureshi, threw light on the need for technical seminars.—APP