Daily Times

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication on Friday presented a detailed action plan to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif aimed at boosting the country’s IT exports to $25 billion in five years.

The prime minister, who had tasked the IT ministry with the said target, chaired a review meeting here and appreciated the action plan, and instructed to ensure its implementation, according to a PM Office press release.

The action plan featured measures to bring reforms in different IT-related sectors and address the issues.

In his remarks, the prime minister said that there was no dearth of capable manpower and resources. The effective use of resources and skill training of the manpower could take the IT exports even beyond the targeted $25 billion.

He asked all the relevant departments for collaborative efforts to address the challenges in the IT sector reforms and informed the participants that he would personally oversee the implementation process.

The prime minister instructed the Higher Education Commission to devise an action plan for youth’s education and skill training of international standards. Calling for implementing the proposals to meet the Gulf countries’ demand for IT experts, he asked the IT ministry to define the targets and their timelines to enhance exports. In this regard, he also directed to constitute a committee to ensure the implementation of the reforms and carry out necessary collaboration with different departments.

In the briefing, the prime minister was told that his decision to prioritise the IT sector led to a 34% increase in IT exports during the last four months. It was informed that Pakistan’s IT ranking improved from 79 to 40, e-governance ranking by 14 points, and 2500 new IT companies were registered.

The participants were informed that for the next five years, a $15 billion target has been set for IT sector exports, $10 billion for digitization, and $1 billion for telecom exports.

The meeting was briefed on the Labor Management System aimed at capacity building of the workforce in collaboration with the educational institutions, using the demand data of the industries.

As the IT ministry briefed about the proposed project for the facilitation of youth particularly the freelancers in remittances, the prime minister appreciated the measures regarding the international patent gateways and instructed for an immediate implementation.

The prime minister expressed satisfaction with the action plan on IT exports and lauded the IT minister and her team. Federal Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Khan Cheema, Minister of State for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja and relevant senior officers attended the meeting.