ISLAMABAD            -         Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal Wednesday said that keeping in view the extra ordinary talent and qualities in the youth of the country, the government was going to digitally empower them by providing 100,000 laptops in the first phase. Addressing as chief guest at the Artificial Intelligence Summit here at the National Incubation Center (NIC), the minister said the students who do not fall under the laptop scheme due to merit would also be able to get laptops on easy installments through commercial banks. The minister added that the PML-N government in its previous tenure built the digital national centers of excellence in automation and robotics in EMI college and with every center, 10-12 engineering universities’ laboratories including UET Lahore, UET Peshawar, and NED University Karachi were attached. He said the laptops that were delivered among the youth between 2013-18 brought about revolution as most of them were now earning huge foreign exchange reserves for the country through e-lancing services. He said in 75 years, we could not manage to make Pakistan’s economy-an export led economy, which resulted in shortage of foreign exchange reserves in the country. “Whenever our economy starts growing, our demand increases and the capacity to consume dollars also increases, but our capacity to earn dollars does not increase due to less exports,” he added. He said all problems of the country’s economy emerged due to lack of policy continuity and political stability. Therefore, he said Pakistan badly needed the political stability and a government must have a mandate of over 10 years to implement and continue the economic policies.