K-P unveils digital strategy at Digital Youth Summit 2017

IT Board chief says strategy to boost growth, create jobs

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday unveiled its Digital Strategy during the fourth Digital Youth Summit (DYS) 2017 to provide a roadmap to equip youngsters in the province with the skills, access, and markets they needed to secure and create jobs in the knowledge economy.

The three-day summit, a joint initiative of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board (K-PITB) and the World Bank and powered by Jazz, formally kicked off in Peshawar on Friday.



“K-P takes digital opportunities for our people very seriously and want to be a leader in technology. This strategy, through sound policies and reforms, will set a roadmap for us and we shall announce initiatives to support this over the next few days,” said K-PITB Managing Director Dr Shahbaz Khan.

“We have already launched programmes to attract investment,” he said while pointing towards the infrastructure and private sector initiatives taken under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) along with some other initiatives with the hope to build on these foundations.

“The digital strategy encompasses inputs from a wide range of groups including government departments, the private sector, and organisations such as the World Bank, making it as relevant and robust as possible,” explained Dr Shahbaz.

“As we implement it [the programme], we will continue to refine it based on feedback and experience to keep it relevant and cutting edge.”

The weekend of tech will culminate in a Startup Cup for young entrepreneurs to showcase their business ideas to investors.

Aniqa Afzal Sandhu, chief digital officer of Jazz, said that not only locals but the country at large stands to benefit from such positive endeavours.



“Our country is ripe with talent,” she said.

The World Bank Country Director Patchamuthu Illangovan said that the global institution has been providing technical assistance to the provincial government and had assisted in developing the strategy in addition to also developing a trust fund for the K-PITB to implement projects.

“Digital economy is the future,” Illangovan said. “Over 80 per cent of Pakistan’s population is offline. Closing this gap will create new job opportunities for the millions entering the labour force,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2017.