Six memorandums of understandings in information technology field signed with Chinese companies
ISLAMABAD- Six Chinese IT companies and Pakistan Software Development Board have signed six Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) for establishing closer links in the IT field.
The MoUs were signed during the recent visit of the Minister for Science and Technology, Dr Ata-ur-Rahman, who led a six-member experts team to the rapidly expanding IT country.
Dr Ata-ur-Rahman himself signed agreements with his counterparts for setting up a telecommunication university and a chip design centre in Pakistan.
The MoUs with the Chinese companies envisage collaboration in setting up development centres in Pakistan and participation in the software development parks in either country.
The Managing Director of Pakistan Software Development Board, Sohail Shahid, who was highly impressed by the phenomenal progress made by China in this field, gave some details of the various MoUs.
According to the agreement with UFSOFT, a company employing 2500 persons with $ 80 million annual revenue, its Chief Executive Brett Ho will come to Pakistan on July 25 to discuss the possibility of setting up a development centre in Islamabad.
The agreement with the biggest IT-embedded software company with 3500 employees and $ 150 million annual revenue, proposes to have an outsourcing agreement with Pakistan. The company has $ 3 billion domestic market. The company in interested in outsourcing centre in Pakistan.
An agreement with Techlogix, one of the top ten IT companies in China, proposes to have an office in software board in Islamabad.
CVIC, a software engineering company with 3000 employees, wants to set up a small ‘call centre’ in Pakistan and has offered to participate in the ITCN proposed to be held in Karachi in August. ITCN has attracted foreign leading firms from abroad.
ZTE, which already has a big telecommunication office in Islamabad, intends to expand its operations and would hire 100 in software products to be manufactured in Pakistan.
By another agreement, it was decided to introduce Pakistani companies to Chinese by allowing them space in the Beijing software technology park and similarly Chinese companies will have their offices in the software park in Islamabad.
Sohail said that China is emerging fast as an IT giant. He recalled that over a decade ago when Pakistan’s exports totalled $ 7 billion, the Chinese exports were worth $ 11 billion. But now the Chinese exports are over $ 450 billion, of which IT exports alone are worth $ 200 billion.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:7/3/2002
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