Daily Times

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the provincial government is taking all out-steps to digitalise its departments in order to bring transparency and efficiency as part of digital advancement.

Addressing the participants of leadership Summit on “Scaling the Fourth Industrial Revolution” organized by Chartered Accountants Women’s Committee (CAWC), recently formed by Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), the Sindh CM said that the Land Revenue Department has become best in Sindh after its computerisation and digitalisation of the land records. “All departmental activities and the monitoring of projects are on my Ipad.”

The Chartered Accountants Women’s Committee (CAWC) is the initiative of ICAP for capacity building of women chartered accountants and female students aspiring to be future chartered accountants. The summit was of great interest amongst notable C-Suit executives, senior managers, business leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals from finance, audit, tax, sales, marketing, human resource, supply chain and information technology. The primary objective of the Summit was to provide a platform to the participants to hear corporate leaders sharing their views and global perspectives on 4th Industrial Revolution. The chief minister said that few years back the finance departments’ allocation and disbursements were considered state secret but now all the record is available online with quarterly updates. “Sindh government is imparting training to around 15000 employees in the IT sector,” he added. About the country’s population, CM Murad said that China has highest population in the world but they have utilized this huge human capital through capacity building that is what Pakistan needs to replicate.

While praised ICAP and CAWC for taking such initiatives, Chief Minister appreciated the fact that ICAP has provided a platform for women in the business world to gain leadership position and take part in the country’s progress on equal footings.

Earlier, Prof Attaur Rahman, Chairman-UN Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation speaking on the occasion stressed for taking steps to reap the benefits of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) through knowledge based approach. He apprised the participants about technological advancements taking place around that world and called for further investment in education sector to become a vibrant part of the 4IR.

The World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan, Iilango Patchamuthu, said that Pakistan has done well in three areas and needs to utilized for the 4IR. First is demographic dividend which is to create opportunities to all young people through either entrepreneurship or enhancing skills so that they could get jobs or do their own business. Second is the area of digital divide there are more than 150 mobile user but the gap between boys and girls using mobile phones needs to be closed besides focusing on urban and rural divide where farmers can use mobile technology to improve their yield while the third area is human capital where lot of efforts are needed in education, health sectors.

Pakistan needs to seriously take steps to investment in education and healthcare services to attain 8 percent GDP growth rate and moderate its population growth between 0.8 percent to 1 percent otherwise the current status quo will lead to a point where existing resources will not be enough to adequately meet the needs of future generations, Patchamuthu noted.

Jennifer K Thomson, Chief Financial Management officer and Director Policy and Country Services, The World Bank through her video message congratulated ICAP for holding the summit. She highlighted the opportunities and challenges being faced by women in the digital age.

The panelists and speakers including Ghazanfar Ali, GM, IBM Pakistan & Afghanistan, Jehan Ara, President of P@SHA, Syed Asad Ali Shah, Managing Partner Deloitte Yousuf Adil, Ehsan Malik, CEO of Pakistan Business Council, Paul Keijzer, CEO and Founder of Engage Consulting also spoke on the occasion and shared their views on digital economy, threats and opportunities of 4ir, future of fintech and how the 4ir revolution can be a game changer for Pakistan.

The event was well attended by corporate executives and industry leaders which resulted in a healthy learning and insightful discussions with the speakers and audience.

Published in Daily Times, December 15^th 2017.