PM Shehbaz hopes IT Park Islamabad will boost exports to US$25bn

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif directed the authorities concerned to ensure the timely completion of IT Park in Islamabad as well as the other projects of the Information Technology (IT) sector.

Presiding over a meeting in Islamabad to review IT projects and implementation of measures to increase its exports, PM Shehbaz also expressed satisfaction over the progress IT Park project in Islamabad.

The prime minister said the project will significantly increase domestic IT exports. PM Shehbaz said it will prove to be a milestone in achieving the target of IT export of 25 billion dollars.

The meeting was briefed that work on IT Park project is underway at a fast pace and the Korean company collaborating on the project has reduced its completion period from June to February next year.

The meeting was also briefed about digital smart cities project being launched in Islamabad initially, to provide easy access to citizens to 150 services through the Islamabad City Super application.

Under the project, services of Capital Development Authority, Islamabad Police, Health and Education departments will be available to citizens through a mobile application.

The meeting was informed that the services of the federal government will be made available across the country through mobile application in the final stages.

PM Shehbaz said that citizens should be encouraged to use mobile applications for government services.

The meeting was also briefed about the performance of the IT sector in the last five months during which IT exports have increased by 30 percent compared to last year.

It was informed that in the last five months, 300,000 have registered for training in IT skills programs while four new incubation centers were also launched during this period.

The meeting was also given a detailed briefing on investment in various projects of IT sector and step-by-step increase in IT exports from them.