Masood urges IT entrepreneurs to expand programs in Pakistan

Pakistan’s Ambassador to US Masood Khan has urged IT entrepreneurs to scale up their investments and programs in Pakistan.

He was talking to a delegation of IT entrepreneurs, who called on him, in Washington.

Appreciating the initiatives being taken by IT entrepreneurs, he said that Pakistan's tech sector had witnessed an impressive growth, especially in fintech, healthtech and other tech associated areas including transportation and real estate.

The Ambassador highlighted the fact that Pakistan’s IT exports had surged to $4 billion.

Discussing Pak-US collaboration especially in IT and Tech sector, he said that the existing partnership had a great potential for growth. He said that the US stood as the preeminent import destination of Pakistani goods. In the fiscal year 2022-23, Pakistan IT and IT-related service exports to the US amounted to $ 1.4 billion.

Noting the presence of leading international IT corporations in Pakistan including HP, DELL, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, NCR, Teradata, and Google, Masood Khan observed that digitization of economy, e-commerce and improved supply chains were driving this change.

He said tech startups have particularly been successful in fintech, retail, pharmacy, diagnostics, telemedicine, education, groceries and transportation.

The Ambassador also welcomed the intent to manufacture low cost software products in Pakistan for their export to US.

He said that Pakistan could be used as a manufacturing hub not only for United States but also for Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa.

On the occasion, the delegation said “Certified Cloud Applied Generative AI” initiative has been launched to train 30,000 IT students, engineers and other professionals to impart practical training and upgrade their Skills.

Simultaneously, a database of trained IT individuals/experts in Pakistan was also being compiled to connect them with Pakistani-American tech entrepreneurs especially in the Silicon Valley.

Moreover, a platform was also being created for Pakistani freelancers with an aim to provide them with better employment opportunities in Pakistan as well as across the globe.

Briefing the Ambassador, the delegation said “Certified Cloud Applied Generative AI” has been launched under Sindh Governor’s initiative.

They informed that previously they had been contributing, on gratis basis, to promote education, research and business opportunities in Artificial Intelligence, BlockChain, Internet of Things, and Cloud Native Computing under initiative for Artificial Intelligence and Computing.

The delegation showed their desire to establish a Tech National Incubation Centre in Karachi and other parts of Pakistan and highlighted that they intended to manufacture low cost software engineering products in Pakistan for export to the United States.