On the 80th anniversary of New York’s UN General Assembly, Pakistan has taken a visible step to shape the global debate on technology, youth and sustainable development. Crypto and Blockchain Minister of State Bilal bin Saqib spoke at two high-level events in AI Capacity Building, which was co-hosted with social business, youth, technology, and the other Saudi Arabia, Kenya and Aishare, with the support of the UN office for digital and emerging technologies.
In both engagements, the message of Bilal Bin Saqib and Pakistan was clear. For developing countries, technology is not an optional add-on, but an essential tool for survival, resilience and progress. In the Social Business Forum, Pakistan highlighted the reality that millions of young people are already using digital tools to receive remittances, funding MicroEnterpris and connecting with the global economy. This recruitment is not a speculation, but inevitably a family seeking faster payments, an entrepreneur looking for capital, and a community looking for solutions. As Pakistan framed it, this challenge is a way to lead this grassroots energy into a transparent, accountable, socially productive system that can expand.
The second intervention on artificial intelligence reinforced the same theme, but was enhanced through a wider lens. The Pakistan Crypto minister said AI is not a luxury for a sophisticated economy, but a necessity for developing countries looking to leap structural barriers. His appeal was for global access, ethical protection measures, and global cooperation to ensure a collaborative model that would allow the Global South to build capacity rather than lag further.
It was the context as well as the content that made these interventions important. Pakistan was not speaking from the bystanders. At UNGA80, he was treated as an active participant shaping a global conversation about the intersection of technology, development and youth empowerment.
The advances in digital adoption, particularly in crypto and blockchain, have been recognized in New York as a case study of how emerging economies move quickly when demand is driven.
For Pakistan, this indicates a subtle but important change in perception. No longer a recipient of the Development Agenda, the country has established itself as a contributor to ideas and models, demonstrating how digital assets, social business frameworks, and AI can converge to tackle poverty, inequality and climate vulnerability challenges. The UNGA80 debate showed that Pakistan is increasingly seen as a follower, not as an increasingly seen as a country ready to lead its involvement with emerging technologies in the southern part of the world.
Bilal bin Saqib also met with Microsoft, Brad Smith, and Nobel Raureate Muhammad Yunus, president of Brad Smith, president of Kazakhstan’s Minister of Digital Development and Innovation, Zhaslan Madiyev, during his visit to New York.
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