ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Saturday said that the global Information Technology business embodied huge opportunities for the country’s freelancers and stressed upon the enhancement of their skill sets to capture the huge global market. In a virtual address at the ‘Freelance Fest’, the president said that the new opportunities in the IT sector were more rewarding than the brick-and-mortar business setups. He said that there were reports about Pakistani freelancers grabbing the third global position and noted that there were about 3 million IT freelancers working in the country. The president said that there should be a gradual increase in the number of IT freelancers each year by 100 percent as the global market was craving skilled people in this field. He said Pakistan could progress in this sector and strengthen its revenues by luring foreign investment through freelancing in the IT sector. He said the IT returns were immediate and underlined the need for mobilizing the human resources. The president said during the ‘California Gold Rush’, people used to head towards California, US to try their luck. He likened the existing opportunities in the IT sector to that of the ‘gold rush’. “It is like a gold rush for which they will have to improve skill sets of the people,” he said, adding that the latest gadgets and tools like smartphones should be utilized and stressed upon making access of such facilities to freelancers easy. Lauding efforts of the ministry of information and technology, he said the government had not imposed any tax on such businesses so that the freelancers could bring the foreign investment and enhance their businesses and the national economy. He also appreciated role of Pakistan Software Board and suggested that it could bring further innovative mechanisms to help people increase their freelancing outreach. The president said the field could help create jobs opportunities for the youth and bolster the national economy. The president said that though there were elements of uncertainty for the freelancing business, it possessed the reliability to generate income. He said there were about 450 million freelancers across the world. He said IT skills could be improved without the requirement of any sophisticated knowledge. The president said the freelancing business also possessed huge opportunities for womenfolk.