The caretaker federal and provincial governments are committed to promoting the IT sector across the country to support the vision of the Special Facilitation Investment Council (SFIC) for strengthening the economy. This was stated by Younus Dahga, Minister for Finance, Planning, Development and Revenue — Government of Sindh while talking exclusively to the media on Saturday at the concluding day of the 23rd ITCN Asia: Declaring Pakistan the Regional Hub.
The IT sector is one of the crucial sectors in addressing the country’s issues of macroeconomic indicators, including bringing in precious foreign exchange to the country, generating entrepreneurship, creating jobs, and enhancing financial inclusion in the country.
The caretaker provincial government will focus on digitisation and automation within the governance to expedite the facilitation to the masses, enhancing transparency in the processes to control corruption and delays in the system.
He further said the provincial government plans to introduce IT applications in the financial and agriculture sectors to achieve financial inclusion and enhance crop yields.
The provincial government of Sindh is working closely with the Federal Government to achieve the goal of touching the export target of $10 billion per annum. In this regard, the sales tax issue will be resolved for companies on a priority basis, Dahga added.
The provincial minister said the business deals with foreign and local companies at 23rd ITCN Asia are a testament to the potential of the IT sector and the resilience of the local economy to address its challenges.
Umair Nizam, Vice President of E-commerce Gateway, said the ITCN Asia proved to be a tremendous economic activity in the country, which generated an estimated business deals of $110 million among IT and IT-enabled companies.
He added the 3-day exhibition and conference witnessed footfalls of 57,000 visitors, including more than 100 foreign delegates from 13 foreign countries. Also, the trade fair generated job opportunities for over 35,000 experienced professionals and fresh graduates.
More than 450 organisations participated in the event, which was supported by the Ministry of IT & Telecom, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), and the Pakistan IT Industry Association (P@SHA). ITCN also hosted various conferences on cybersecurity, e-commerce, fintech, digital education, gaming, etc.