Second Round Table - "The Silver Lining - Beyond Prevalent Perceptions"
Second Round Table: "The Silver Lining-Beyond Prevalent Perceptions"
Karachi, 20th December 2017: The Centre for Peace, Security and Developmental Studies (CPSD) hosted a roundtable discussion on The Silver Lining-Beyond Prevalent Perceptions" as the second of three roundtables to be held on the topic. The proceedings included one presentation and were chaired by Rear Admiral Pervaiz Asghar (retd). Participants at the event included members of the academia, experts and policy practitioners.
The program initiated with a recitation of the Holy Quran. Afterwards, the stage secretary handed the proceedings over to the Chairperson. Rear Admiral Pervaiz Asghar (retd) elaborated on the topic of CPEC: Opportunities for Karachi.
He emphasized on the difference between Gwadar and Karachi. He stressed that Gwadar may be the future but Karachi was still the present. There was a need to utilize all available resources for optimum benefit from prevailing opportunities for Karachi.
The first speaker Dr Huma Baqai spoke on the topic of Transforming Diversity of Karachi into strength. She opined that there was a need to identify and understand Karachi strengths on order to solve its myriad problems. She asserted that Karachis diversity can only be converted into its strength once its conflict matrix had been resolved.
The second speaker was former Nazim Karachi and Indus Pharma MD Zahid Saeed who discussed Entrepreneurship in Karachi: Challenges and opportunities. He explored the difficulties faced by entrepreneurs in Karachi and Pakistan. Mr Saeed opined that Entrepreneurship is difficult due to the fact that making money and value is perceived as a social injustice by the wider Public. He stressed that there was a need to go back, count the actual population of Karachi and give it it's due share.
Market Research Consultant Mr Kashif Hafeez Siddiqui followed the speakers with a presentation Karachipedia: Understanding Karachi Social media. In the presentation he highlighted different facts on the different socioeconomic trends such as employment, residence, disposal income, facilities, shopping preferences and TV viewership among others.
The end of the presentation was followed by an open house discussion. The debate was very lively with all the participants indulging in intellectual discussion. Participants stressed on the ways to bridge the gap between the government and the private sector. They also discussed the efficacy on the current political and economic system of the country. The role of the thinking elite and its shortcomings were also scrutinized by the participants.
Member, Board of Governors Habibullah Dadabhoy gave the Thanking Note and closing remarks. He thanked all the participants for taking part in the exercise. He also stressed on the continuance of such exercises in order to utilize the untapped potential of the youth.
The roundtable ended with a Hi Tea arranged for all the participants.
MORE ON FACEBOOK : Photos of this Event