Minister for stronger ties with Turkey in IT sector
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on March 19, called for greater cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey in the fields of information technology and telecom.
“The government has already liberalized the telecom sector in Pakistan which offers great potential for investment in this sector due to low tele density,” he told Turkish ambassador to Pakistan Hasan Kemal Gur, who called on him on March 19.
The minister highlighted the government’s efforts to promote IT and telecom sectors, with particular focus on the expansion of internet and telephone facilities in far-flung areas.
He said government was actively encouraging private-public partnerships and there were plenty of opportunities for Turkish businessmen to forge such partnerships with PTCL and other such entities in Pakistan.
The organizational restructuring of PTCL was also underway to bring about a change in business attitudes and to prepare it for competition expected following the entry of new players in wireless local loop and long-distance international telecommunication areas, Mr. Leghari said.
Referring to e-government initiative of his ministry, he said his ministry had launched an aggressive programme to ensure a quick delivery of IT-enabled public services to people. Besides, international giants like Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Oracle were already coming to Pakistan in a big way to participate in growth of telecom sector, he added.
The ambassador assured the minister of his country’s cooperation in promotion of IT in Pakistan. He told the minister that IT companies in his country were looking forward to investing in Pakistan in wake of deregulation process in telecom sector in the country.
Mr. Leghari thanked the ambassador for his country’s support and expressed the hope that relations between the two countries would continue to grow in the relevant areas in future.
Source: Dawn
Date:3/20/2004
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