IT minister urges companies to invest in Pakistani startups

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Information Technology and Telecommunication Minister Umar Saif has urged companies to invest in startups in Pakistan, highlighting the vast investment opportunities in the sector.

The IT minister's remarks were made during an investment conference in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Silicon Valley on Saturday in Islamabad.

"Pakistan has a convenient time zone and world-class IT professionals," adding that the caretaker government was taking measures for digitisation and training of 200,000 IT professionals across the country. 

During the event, Saif also said that the government was initiating a whole series of interventions to support them and lower their risk. He added that they have also prepared a package to benefit the IT industry as much as possible.

There will be no restriction on the IT industry pertaining to dollar transactions, he said, adding that the interim government is removing all barriers to make it possible.

Stressing the significance of Pakistani youth, IT Minister Saif said they are the second largest online workforce in the world and the government was working to make it easy for them to get paid.

The minister continued that they have paved the way for global investment in the IT industry.

Since assuming office in the interim setup, Dr Saif has been proactively advocating towards the betterment of Pakistan's IT and startup sector.

Earlier this week, the minister also met with a World Bank delegation to discuss matters of mutual interest, bilateral issues and the "Digital Economy Enhancement Project".

Speaking about the project, Dr Saif said it would interlink all the government’s systems and people would be able to access all services from one platform.