Islamabad: Pakistan and China on Tuesday agreed to develop an e-corridor to establish greater connectivity in the region, keeping in view importance of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Both the sides agreed when a high-level Chinese delegation led by China Investment Promotion Centre Chairman Yan Lijin called on State Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Anusha Rehman here. IT Secretary Azmat Ali Ranjha, Telecom member Mudassar Hussain, Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) Managing Director Asim Shehryar and National Telecommunication Company (NTC) Chairman Viqar Ahmad were also present.
The state minister apprised that Pakistan’s information technology and telecom sector has a lot of potential and now we have to explore ways to reap this potential in an optimal way. “We believe in “Digital Pakistan” and Chinese cooperation and collaboration will help us to materialize this vision of accelerated digitization,” she said.
“We are awarding tech-city project on January 7 next year. It is an incubation project meant for training of young entrepreneurs likewise we are intended to establish a research and innovation center of international standard,” Anusha added. She said the ministry was already collaborating for development of e-commerce gateway framework so that online commercial ventures could flourish further and consumers and companies could get more confidence in online payment systems.
“Then we would like to invite international companies to establish their set ups here in Pakistan as well,” she said. The delegates appreciated vision of the government and hailed initiatives being taken by IT Ministry for uplifting of the sector. Yan Lijin agreed to work with Pakistan’s government for establishment of IT parks on land of the Ministry of Information Technology in Karachi and for licenses for e-commerce gateway. He agreed to send Chinese delegations to Pakistan to visit land for the IT Parks. APP
