Karachi: Federal Minister for Information Technology (IT) and Telecom Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui recently announced the government’s intention to launch an electronic payment gateway service to facilitate IT sector’s development, a news source reported.
He expressed his views on the matter at the 19th ITCN Asia IT & Telecom Show. This event took place at the Expo Centre on Wednesday. He declared that lack of payment solutions was a major hurdle impeding IT development and growth; adding that the authorities concerned would address this issue on a priority basis. To facilitate this measure, the government had decided to introduce its electronic payment gateway facility.
Dr Siddiqui said that the country’s IT sector had achieved its annual revenue generation target of USD 1 billion. He expressed the hope that this growth trend would show significant improvements in the coming years.
He revealed the government’s intention to transform Pakistan into a digital economy. Similarly, the officials concerned were pursuing various digitilisation gigs with an aim to improve departmental performance efficiency.
Moreover, the minister announced the launch of an IT city and technology parks in Karachi. He said that the technology industry made huge contributions towards national revenue generation efforts. The IT & Telecom ministry is also mulling to take over the administration of the IT industry in its bid to train human resources as per international standards.
In his remarks, the vice president and director of Ecommerce Gateway Pakistan remarked that Pakistan had immense potential for IT sector development, and the country’s workforce could transform the industry into the biggest foreign exchange earner in the upcoming years. He also mentioned that improvements in the IT sector could create employment opportunities for more than a million people within three years.
Moreover, he proposed the creation of e-commerce platforms to connect local Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) with the international market.
Hazafa reveres the art of writing and has been turned into a property enthusiast by profession. Her daily survival kit includes; tea, coffee, keyboard and paperbacks.
