Chitral Times Report
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of IT & Telecommunication has initiated the development process on the Digital Pakistan 2021 Policy. The Policy will also serve as the foundation for the construction of a holistic digital ecosystem with advanced concepts and components for the rapid delivery of next generation digital services, applications and content. It will serve as an aggregator of demand for innovative digital services and as a supplier of data for value added services and applications. Member IT, Ministry of IT & Telecom, Syed Junaid Imam, kicked off the Digital Pakistan Policy 2021 Roundtable sessions in Lahore on Wednesday. The Consultations sessions with all the relevant stakeholders will also be held in Karachi and Islamabad, and would include a broad cross section of Pakistan’s ICT Industry.
Federal Minister for IT Syed Amin Ul Haque in his message to the participating stakeholders said “Pakistan is on the verge of digital revolution as we see progress happening in the country on daily basis. Ministry of IT & Telecom has envisioned digital transformation as a source of empowering citizen and bringing prosperity to unnourished segments of the society. We believe that to capitalize on this enormous opportunity, Ministry of IT & Telecom will take all the stakeholders on board for Digital Pakistan Policy 2021, be it the Industry, International Investors or other Governmental policy arms.” The Digital Pakistan Policy 2021 is being developed through an all-inclusive approach. The development of the digital policy is a big leap forward as it is intended to address the bottlenecks that prevent higher level of ICT adoption in Pakistan. Secretary IT Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui in his message said, “Ministry of IT & Telecom is National policy lead when it comes to Digital transformation initiatives.
By engaging all the industry and academia partners, we are revising Digital Pakistan Policy 2018 to re-evaluate and re-align ourselves for right IT growth direction in the country. We are looking forward for valuable input from all the stakeholders to ensure inclusive policy development process. Earlier, in his opening address, Syed Junaid Imam, Member IT – MoITT said “Digital Pakistan is for citizen empowerment and economic prosperity of Pakistan. Digital Pakistan is not for ICT sector only but for all the Citizens of Pakistan. Providing access to information, improving skills, promoting innovation & business, supporting IT and Tech companies for growth of export and enabling financial inclusion & e-commerce are all part of Digital Pakistan vision. Ensuring privacy & security in the cyber space and public private partnership are essential for digital transformation. At IT Ministry we firmly believe in inclusive decision making and making policies for facilitating business.”