US businessmen invited to invest in IT, telecom sectors
LAHORE – Federal Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on March 17, invited the US businessmen to invest in the information technology and telecom sectors in Pakistan that he assured them excellent opportunities for expanding businesses and ensuring quick returns.
“There are indeed very good opportunities for the US businessmen to participate in the business growth currently being witnessed in the IT and telecom sectors in Pakistan,” he said during a meeting with a 15-member delegation of US-Pakistan Business Council. The delegation was led by mission leader Herb Davis, Managing Director of South Asia Affairs US Chamber of Commerce and Esperanza Gomez, Executive Director of US-Pakistan Business Council, US Chamber of Commerce. IT Secretary Khalid Saeed, Pakistan Software Export Board MD Dr Amir Matin and other IT Ministry officials were also present.
The visiting delegation included representatives fromTouchstone Communications, Delta Matrix, Global Business Relations, Netsol Technologies, Oracle, Lights of America, Telnia Corporation, Ledtronics, Sweetwater International and Merck & Co.
The minister told the delegation the telecom and IT sectors in Pakistan had become the leading growth engine of business activity due to liberalisation of the sector marked by deregulation of fixed-line telecommunication and the decision to award two more licences in the mobile cellular sector.
“With only 1.7 per cent tele-density in the mobile cellular sector and 2.7 per cent in the fixed-line sector, we foresee a tremendous growth in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan within the next couple of years,” he said. He informed them that international players had already set their sight on Pakistan with more than 30 local and international companies keen to get licenses to operate in the mobile cellular sector.
Similarly, he said, the organizational restructuring of PTCL was also under way to bring about a change in the business attitudes and to prepare the company for the competition likely to set in following the entry of new players in the wireless local loop and long-distance international telecommunication areas.
Referring to the e-government initiative of his ministry, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari said his ministry had launched an aggressive programme to ensure a quick delivery of IT enabled public services to the people. “Our ministry has requested President Pervez Musharraf to be in-charge of this initiative to ensure complete automation of the 34 government divisions in the shortest possible time,” he told the delegation. He said the IT programmes and initiatives being launched by his ministry provided an ideal opportunity for companies like Microsoft, Oracle and Sun Microsystems to be strong technology partners. He said these companies had already started coming to Pakistan in a big way by interacting and teaming up in joint partnerships with local firms and business houses.
Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari said his ministry could go as far as offering salary costs for the initial three years for any leading IT firm interested in setting up its operations in Pakistan. “I can assure you that Pakistan is one of those few countries where reality on the ground is not as bad as the perceptions and image projected abroad,” he said, adding the government is aiming at bigger business volumes and bigger revenues through lucrative incentives and policies.
He said young professionals being produced by Pakistan’s universities and colleges were capable of proving their skills in any competitive atmosphere. “Today our focus is not on producing just MCS-degree holders, but refining these graduates into top-class professionals ready to take up challenging careers,” he said saying young students in Pakistan were now taking up high-class courses in disciplines such as animations and graphics at noted institutions like NCA.
Expressing their views, the visiting US businessmen expressed their confidence in the business opportunities in Pakistan, saying they were looking very seriously at business prospects emerging out of investment-friendly policies of the government. “We are really encouraged by the efforts of President Musharraf and his team to offer all possible facilities to the businessmen coming to invest in Pakistan,” said Herb Davis, leader of the delegation, adding already several US businessmen had invested in Pakistan and were reaping high profits. “That clearly shows that if they can succeed in Pakistan, many more in the US wanting to come to Pakistan can also benefit from the competitive free-market environment that prevails in Pakistan today,” he added.
Source: The Nation
Date:3/18/2004
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