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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shhebaz Sharif on Tuesday expressed hopes to strengthen Islamabad’s relations with Japan as the Japanese parliament election Sanae Takaichi as the first woman premier of the country.

Takaichi replaces Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum and wrangling since the Liberal Democratic Party’s disastrous election loss in July. Ishiba, who lasted only one year as prime minister, resigned with his Cabinet earlier in the day, paving the way for his successor.

Takaichi won 237 votes — four more than a majority — compared to 149 won by Yoshikoko Noda, the head of the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. The vote took place in the lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two chambers of parliament and the one that chooses the prime minister.

“Heartiest congratulations to H.E. Ms. Sanae Takaichi on her election as the Prime Minister of Japan,” Pakistan PM Sharif wrote on X. “We look forward to working closely with Prime Minister Takaichi to further strengthen the enduring friendship and cooperation between our two countries.”

Pakistan and Japan have enjoyed cordial and friendly relations since the former’s creation in 1947. Both countries have several bilateral institutional mechanisms, including Annual Bilateral Political Consultations and Security Dialogue.

The Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) program has been supporting Pakistan’s efforts to revive its economy and reduce poverty through a series of reforms and initiatives in health, sanitation, education, agriculture, irrigation, economic infrastructure and economic development.

This month, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb met with Nobumitsu Hayashi, Governor of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in New York, according to the Pakistani finance ministry.

Aurangzeb welcomed JBIC’s formal commitment to join the Reko Diq lender group, noting that this move would strengthen investor confidence and encourage Japanese businesses to expand their presence in Pakistan.

Located in Pakistan’s insurgency-hit Balochistan province, the Reko Diq mines have one of the world’s largest underdeveloped gold and copper deposits, and the potential to generate $90 billion over the next 37 years.

“He (Aurangzeb) emphasized the government’s priority on ensuring security for foreign investors and identified new avenues for bilateral cooperation,” the Pakistani finance ministry said.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday launched a national semiconductor training program to develop chip-design expertise and reduce dependence on foreign technology, with officials saying the country also plans to work closely with ��������’s semiconductor industry.

The five-year INSPIRE Initiative, valued at Rs 4.8 billion ($17.2 million), aims to train around 3,200 young professionals and establish nine university clusters and six state-of-the-art integrated-circuit laboratories.

Officials said the program will bridge academia, industry and the public sector to build the foundations of Pakistan’s semiconductor ecosystem.

“We have launched two programs,” said Dr. Naveed Shirwani, head of the country’s semiconductor task force. “One will make it easier for Pakistani companies to do business in �������� without spending any money, and the other connects our young talent with Saudi semiconductor firms.”

“The National Semiconductor Hub of �������� has declared Pakistan its first spoke, linking the two countries to work together,” he added.

Semiconductors, the tiny chips powering everything from smartphones and vehicles to medical equipment and defense systems, have become a global strategic priority.

Supply-chain disruptions in recent years have prompted countries to localize design and production capacity to secure what many now regard as a cornerstone of economic and national security.

Shirwani said the effort of his team went beyond training or chip design, describing it as a step toward “digital sovereignty.”

He maintained if Pakistan did not have control over its own data, connectivity or ability to extract knowledge from it, it would be hard to say it was truly in its possession.

He also pointed out that these capabilities depended cybersecurity and semiconductors. You can’t run a hospital or a school if we don’t have our own semiconductors.

“This is the first step,” he continued. “We are starting training, but eventually we have to establish our entire semiconductor industry. We have no other choice.”

Information Technology Minister Shaza Fatima said the initiative marked Pakistan’s movement toward a trillion-dollar global market projected to need one million skilled workers by 2030.

“We are trying to create a complete chip-design and research ecosystem for Pakistan,” she said, stressing that international collaboration would be critical.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who inaugurated the program, said nations that control artificial intelligence and semiconductors “will control the future of the world.”

He assured the participants at the gathering that his administration would provide additional funding to keep the initiative rolling whenever required.