Daily Times

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday stressed the need of making efforts to facilitate the overseas Pakistanis with the introduction of different information technology related initiatives.

Addressing an inauguration ceremony of the launch of ‘Online Temporary Mobile Registration System for the Overseas Pakistanis and Foreign Nationals’, the prime minister termed the initiative a good step to facilitate millions of overseas Pakistanis, by enabling them to get registration of their mobile phones during their visit to Pakistan and without paying any taxes.

He maintained that the facility would now enable the overseas Pakistanis to use their mobile phones for a period of four months after registration on their visit to Pakistan.

The prime minister also advised the relevant authorities to streamline the process and hinted that a financial package for the overseas Pakistanis would be announced by the government in the coming days. He opined that the developed countries had made strides in the IT sector and Pakistan possessed immense talent as millions of younger people were getting IT education. He stressed that the vast opportunities in the IT sector should be fully tapped. The ceremony was attended by ministers, parliamentarians and relevant authorities. The prime minister said that under the PM’s youth programmes, a huge chunk of funds had been set aside to imparting vocational and skills development education to the youth, besides the laptops were being given to the students on merit.

Stressing upon the promotion of IT sector, he viewed the growth of IT sector, exploration of minerals and development of the agriculture sector as the main ingredients of the country’s economy. He advised the authorities to expedite the work on IT park and said with the realization of the IT-related projects, the country would make progress by leaps and bounds.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque highlighted the efforts of his ministry in the introduction of the facility under the vision of the prime minister for a digital Pakistan. For the first time in Pakistan’s history, he said, the smartphones were imported by the country. A member of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority apprised that the online facilitation system for the overseas Pakistanis would be equipped with three linkages. The overseas Pakistanis, students, foreign tourists and labourers could avail the facility for a period of 120 days, he added.