LAHORE - Pakistan needs to focus on human capital as it is as important as financial and physical assets are. "We should nurture and promote the human capital if we want to make progress and prosperity to the country." This was the upshot of the speeches delivered at International Human Resource Conference arranged by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry at a local hotel on Saturday. LCCI Acting President Mian Muzaffar Ali, Vice Presidents Shafqat Saeed Piracha, Syed Baber Ali, International HR master trainer Dr Sunil Gupta, Group Head HR Development Bakhtiar Khwaja, International HR Consultant Paul Walsh, GM HR Shell, Pakistan, Leon Menezes and a number of other HR experts threw light on various aspects of Human Resource development. The chief guest of the event Syed Baber Ali while stressing the need for bridging the science and technological gap in Pakistan, urged the government to divert its attention towards this particular area which has attained prime importance in the wake of fast changing global scenario. "No value-addition in any sector is possible without bridging science and technological gap." He drew a comparative analysis of India regarding science and technology saying that they, while realizing its importance, focused on the subject a few years back and now they are in very comfortable situation when it comes to deal with other global players. Dr Sunil Gupta said that Pakistan has no dearth of talent, it has all the resources and above all more than half of its population is less than 25 so a little well directed effort could help bring a sea change. Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI Acting President Mian Muzaffar Ali said that the most valuable resource of any nation is its human capital therefore the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry arranged this conference to address significant challenges, economic and otherwise, currently being faced by Pakistan in development of human resource. Mian Muzaffar Ali said that the world is constantly changing. Companies, organizations, regions and indeed entire nations are locked in a struggle to gain competitive advantage over their counterparts. Thus, if the strategic plan is the vehicle for achieving such success, the HR function is the engine that drives the plan. "Our institutions of higher learning need to prepare professionals with the required skill set who can quickly add value to their professional or corporate organization. These corporations in turn, must continuously transform themselves into "leading" entities, ones which are increasingly competitive on the basis of product innovation and differentiated service." He said that Human Resource development is the ability to harness "talent" which will be the key enabler of both the present and the future besides helping us in building a world-class talent pool that is among the best and the brightest. He informed the participants that apart from pursuing its main objective of promoting and protecting the interest of industry and trade, the LCCI is also engaged in promoting a range of charitable activities. Such activities include, inter alia, donations to the Shalimar Hospital as well as donating its surplus income to various other charitable causes.