IT Pakistan: - 15 members of the trade delegation headed by
Swedish Ambassador HE Jonas Hafstrom Senior Advisor to the Minister of Commerce
asked the Minister of State for IT Ms Anusha Rahman today in Islamabad.
Cabinet Mr. Andres Sjoberg, MD Tetra Pak Mr. Stephen Johnson, Managing Director of Ericsson Pakistan Mr. Ashley Gold, Business Trade Commissioner Sweden Ms Anna Liberg and other senior officials from the Embassy of Sweden , was also a member of the delegation. Federal Secretary IT, Mr. Ahklaq Ahmad tarar, Chairman NTC Brig (Retired) Viqar Rashid Khan., Chairman PTA Dr. Ismail Shah and Member Telecom Mr. Muddasir Hussian was also present there.
In an interactive session, Minister of State
for IT together with representatives of the government of Pakistan is
persistently pursuing its investment friendly policies are very liberal from
the investment side, while offering 100 % ownership of 100 % of the share
capital and tax incentives. The minister said that after the successful auction
of spectrum for 3G/4G investment opportunities in IT have increased manifolds.
Teledensity in Pakistan is 75 %, which covers about 90 % area of Pakistan,
while broadband teledensity, which is less than 2 %, will increase in the wake
of the auction of spectrum.
Deputy IT knowledge the participants about the
future of the ICT sector is expected to gain momentum after the introduction of
3G and 4G in Pakistan . We are focusing on the creation of telecasters to
provide electronic services, namely e- agriculture, e-health, e-education,
e-commerce to the people of underserved and unnerved areas of Pakistan. We
focus on local production, R & I and technology transfer creating
employment opportunities and GDP growth. We're not going to build technology
parks with international cooperation, to provide a favorable environment for
the ICT industry.
The minister also said the government is
committed to establish local manufacturing of mobile phones in cooperation with
the involvement of the private sector and invited Swedish companies to explore
this local production, as an alternative, the minister added.
Member Telecom Mr. Muddasir Hussain gave a
detailed presentation of the representatives regarding investment and
partnership opportunities in the ICT sector of Pakistan.
Head of Delegation Ambassador Jonas Ahlstrom
appreciated the investment friendly policies of the present government of
Pakistan while reciprocating the gestures; argued that Sweden considers
Pakistan as a promising investment partner and the Swedish business community
is also aware of the potential economic / investment, especially in the ICT
sector of Pakistan and is willing to enhance mutual cooperation between the two
countries. He appreciated the determination of the government of Pakistan to
launch proactive measures to strengthen the ICT industry. He also assured the
Minister full cooperation of the government to strengthen economic cooperation
in various fields. A joint working group was set up that will highlight three
key areas of cooperation in the ICT sector with expected results and to report
within the next two weeks, the minister added.