Matters of mutual interest, promotion of bi-lateral relations and cooperation in IT and Telecom sector discussed between Ambassador of Germany Dr. Cyrill Nunn and Minister of State for Information Technology Ms. Anusha Rahman.
Talking to the German Ambassador, the Minister said that Pakistan attaches great importance to its friendly relations with Germany and we can explore many new avenues for cooperation in our rapidly thriving ICT sector for mutual benefit of both the countries. The first “Technology Park” in Islamabad with collaboration of Korean Exim bank is being established and its feasibility study would be started in January 2015. It will be an integrated Centre of Technology to provide conducive environment to IT companies under one roof.
Minister also informed the German Ambassador regarding establishment of 500 telecentres throughout Pakistan to facilitate the people of underserved areas. These telecentres will provide basic e-services, Nadra, telecom services i.e. e-health, e-learning and e-agriculture etc. This universal concept of telecentres would help us to bridge digital divide and MOIT has signed MoU with Nadra in this regard. This project has entered in an implementation phase and the first lot of 70 telecentres will be activated in first quarter of 2015.
The Ambassador appreciated the initiatives undertaken by the Government of Pakistan, especially Ministry of IT. While acknowledging the great potential of Human Resource in Pakistan, he offered the Minister that Germany can give specialized trainings to IT students and entrepreneurs of Pakistan and allocate scholarships to students in Technology sector. He also stated that the exchange of IT business delegations between Germany and Pakistan will further enhance the volume of mutual cooperation in ICT sector.