Laptop Scheme: Shehbaz says students to receive training in KSA

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday launched a new phase of the Laptop Scheme and said hundreds of thousands of students would be sent to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for IT (information technology) training.

Speaking at the inauguration of Prime Minister Youth Laptop Scheme’s fourth phase, Shehbaz also revealed that Saudi Arabia had also offered to train the Pakistani manpower in artificial technology (AI).

He recalled that the Laptop Scheme had been initially launched in 2011 — during his tenure as the Punjab chief minister — and said the government was a total of 100,00 laptops among the deserving students from across the country on merit.

The prime minister told the gathering that Saudi Arabia was investing billions of dollars in AI and expressed its readiness to provide training to the Pakistani youth in IT and AI.

While mentioning that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are two great nations, Shehbaz said they would make remarkable strides in AI.

His latest remarks about the Saudi offer came after his latest visit to Riyadh where Pakistan and Saudi Arabia agreed to launch Economic Cooperation Framework as he held a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The two sides have already inked a landmark Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA) which says “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both”.

Meanwhile, the prime minister at Thursday’s event seated Taliba Bibi Durjana — a female student from Balochistan — at his chair which made her breakdown in tears as she expressed her gratitude to him for receiving the laptop.