Pakistan creating enabling conditions for tech-based businesses: President Alvi

ISLAMABAD, Oct 06 (SABAH): President Dr. Arif Alvi has said that Pakistan was working on introducing reforms for creating a better business climate for tech-based businesses in the country. This, he added, would help bring about exponential growth in the number of start-up companies, encourage tech-savvy entrepreneurs to grow and expand their enterprises, and attract foreign investment in the IT sector.

President Dr. Arif Alvi said this while talking to a delegation of Zones Inc., a global IT services and solution-providing company, led by its CEO and Chairman, Firoz Lalji, at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Thursday.

Talking to the delegation, the President said that the Government of Pakistan had prioritized e-governance and digitalization of government business in order to bring the level of public service delivery at par with global standards. He underlined the need to provide maximum facilitation to foreign companies making foreign investments and expanding their businesses in Pakistan. He also called for improving the ease of doing business in the country, especially in the IT sector, to attract investment and to substantially increase the export of IT-based products and services.

President Dr. Arif Alvi said that our universities, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and skill development organizations should develop close linkages with the leadership of the IT industry. He added that teaching and training modules should be based on the feedback from the industry which would help develop human resources that would meet the requirements of the economy. The President appreciated the interest of Zones Inc. in Pakistan and their plan for potential collaboration with the Government of Pakistan and private sector IT companies in enhancing and improving the quality of IT talent and introducing high-tech IT-based products and services facilities in Pakistan based upon their experiences of working in other countries.

Earlier, Firoz Lalji said that his company had recently started its operations in Pakistan and had hired 800 people with the intention to hire 300 talent every year and leads the way with dedicated manpower, logistics and expertise around the world. He further said that the company enjoyed relationships with 10 thousand partners and vendors to provide specific hardware and software solutions to its clients around the world.