Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has invited PTI Chief Imran Khan to come to the National Assembly and work for a consensus electoral reforms package.

“Next elections will be held as per schedule as Pakistan at this point, needs collaboration and not conflict,” the minister said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad.

Turning to the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan being held in Geneva on Monday, the Planning Minister said it would help provide resources for rehabilitation in flood-affected areas of the country.

He said Pakistan will present a ten-year program to make it climate resilient before the international community.

He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will lead the delegation to the conference.

Speaking about the decisions taken by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), Iqbal said twenty thousand engineers and technical workforce will be offered paid internships in development projects of the country. “These graduates will be paid forty thousand rupees stipend per month,” he added.

The minister said that ECNEC also approved 75 scholarships to bright students of the country in the top 25 universities of the world in Masters and Ph.D. programs. He said a laptop scheme for one hundred thousand students in the country will be launched. He said ECNEC also approved providing five thousand scholarships to students belonging to Balochistan and erstwhile FATA.

He said ECNEC approved the Sindh Human Capital Investment scheme worth Rs55 billion with the collaboration of the World Bank for rehabilitation in the flood-affected areas of the province.

He said ECNEC also approved a development project worth forty billion rupees for the backward districts to bring them at par with the rest of the country.

The Minister reiterated the government’s resolve to uplift the economy of the country and brings development in all sectors.