Karachi: The Pakistan government and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) on Monday signed a $72.5 million financing agreement for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines, Pakistan’s ministry of economic affairs said.
The agreement was signed during a meeting between Pakistani economic affairs minister Omar Ayub Khan, and Dr. Muhammad Al-Jasser, president of the Islamic Development Bank, who is in Islamabad on a four-day visit.
“During the meeting, a financing agreement of $72.5 million for procurement of COVID-19 vaccine was signed between the Islamic Development Bank and Economic Affairs Division,” a statement issued by the ministry said. “The Bank’s financing for procurement of COVID-19 vaccine will help to contain the spread of COVID pandemic. The President, IsDB further updated that the Bank has also approved $180 million financing for Mohmand Dam Hydropower Project.”
Pakistan is a founding member of the Bank, an important multilateral development agency with 57-members.
Pakistan is the second largest beneficiary of IsDB financing. Since its inception, IsDB has approved $13.6 billion financing for Pakistan, covering all major sectors of the economy such as energy, industry, agriculture, transport and health.
At Monday’s meeting, Al-Jasser reiterated that IsDB was one of the leading development partners of Pakistan and fully supported the government of Pakistan’s development vision and priorities. Minister Khan applauded IsDB’s role in supporting member countries in their COVID-19 response, the recovery and procurement of vaccine and in saving lives and livelihoods during the pandemic.
Islamic Development Bank, Pakistan sign $72.5 million deal for COVID-19 vaccine procurement
https://arab.news/2v3cg
Islamic Development Bank, Pakistan sign $72.5 million deal for COVID-19 vaccine procurement
- Pakistan is a founding member of the Bank, a multilateral development agency with 57-members
- Since its inception, the Islamic Development Bank has approved $13.6 billion in financing for Pakistan
Pakistan turns to immersive technology to reimagine ancient Gandhara
- New gallery uses artificial intelligence and 3D visuals to present Buddhist heritage
- Visitors can explore archaeological sites digitally rather than through static displays
ISLAMABAD: At the Islamabad Museum, history no longer sits quietly behind glass.
In September 2025, the museum introduced Pakistan’s first Digital Immersive Gallery, an experiment in how ancient civilizations can be narrated in the age of artificial intelligence, 3D projection and virtual environments. Developed in collaboration with the Korea Heritage Agency, Pakistan’s Department of Archaeology and the National Heritage and Culture Division, the gallery marks a shift from object-centered displays to experience-based storytelling.
Rather than beginning with labels and timelines, the gallery opens with movement, sound and light. Visitors are invited to step into a reconstructed visual world shaped around Gandhara, one of South Asia’s most influential yet often under-explained civilizations that developed across what is now northwestern Pakistan and parts of eastern Afghanistan and later played a foundational role in the spread of Buddhism beyond the subcontinent.
“We have shown here in our Immersive Gallery how Buddhism flourished here, how it was introduced, how it declined and how it shifted to China, Korea and Japan from here,” Dr. Abdul Ghafoor, Deputy Director at the Department of Archaeology and Museums, told Arab News.
“In order to make it, the content developed by Korea has fully used AI and IT,” he continued. “AI and IT are common in Korea and other developed countries, but we have done it for the first time in Pakistan.”
Gandhara flourished between the first century BCE and the fifth century CE in this region, which served as a cultural crossroads, shaped by Greek, Central Asian, Persian and South Asian influences.
It was here that artists first began depicting the Buddha in human form, a visual language that later traveled along trade routes to Central Asia, China, Korea and Japan. This transmission of ideas, beliefs and artistic styles forms the core narrative of the immersive gallery.
“Inside the gallery, visitors are drawn into a world of interactive experiences, heritage documentaries they can zoom in and out of, Gandhara artifacts explored up close and photo zones where they can capture themselves against Pakistan’s most iconic sites,” Muhammad Azeem, Project Director at the Department of Archaeology and Museums, said.
While Gandhara anchors the gallery, the experience expands outward to place it within a longer and wider historical arc. One section is dedicated to Pakistan’s six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, offering visitors a compressed journey across centuries and regions.
“The main hall takes it further with a fully immersive 3D journey,” Azeem added. “Each seven-minute segment transports audiences to treasures like Mohenjo-Daro, Makli Necropolis, Lahore’s Shalimar Gardens and Sheesh Mahal, and the historic landscapes of Taxila and Takht-i-Bahi, making the past feel vivid, unforgettable and alive.”
For many visitors, the gallery’s appeal lies in how it lowers the barrier to understanding. Instead of long explanatory panels, history is introduced through visuals, motion and guided narrative.
“I saw different historical sites on big screens which was very exciting for me,” Fatima Nawaz, a government employee, said. “After that, I watched a complete documentary in the gallery, which was about 20 minutes long, and in which different historical sites related to Gandhara were highlighted.”
“Overall, it was a very good experience,” she added.
Researchers see the initiative as part of a broader global shift in how museums function.
“My topic is Cultural Heritage Museum, and with this research, I am studying and visiting museums,” Abdul Khaliq, an M.Phil. student at Quaid-e-Azam University, said. “One thing I have not seen in Pakistan before is the shift toward virtual reality.”
He added that it was a good step while calling the immersive gallery “very educational and gives us a lot to learn.”
For the officials involved in the project, the gallery is a starting point rather than a finished model.
“The response we have received from the public in Islamabad makes me feel that this should be done in all the museums, in all four provinces of Pakistan,” Dr. Ghafoor, the senior archaeology department official, said. “This is because it can make it easier to follow history.”
“I think such immersive galleries should be there in all the museums,” he added.
