Ministry seeks rebate to take IT exports to $10 billion

Will start business web portal soon to facilitate SMEs in selling products

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Information Technology and Tele-communication has suggested that the government should offer rebate on IT exports in the upcoming budget announcement as the incentive could help boost shipments to $10 billion a year.

"Our exports in the IT sector stand at around $4 billion and we have proposed to the government to give rebate on IT exports in the upcoming budget in order to achieve $10-billion export target by 2020," said Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication Anusha Rahman.

She was talking to the media after attending concluding ceremony of the Huawei Mobile Pakistan Congress under the theme of "Enabling Future Together".



Earlier speaking at the ceremony, the IT minister announced that a business web portal would start running on May 15 for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that would facilitate them in selling their products.

She revealed that the government proposed to Huawei Mobile Pakistan to set up a centre of excellence where software would be developed with the tag of "Made in Pakistan".

She also disclosed that Careem ride-hailing service had decided to launch its services in Balochistan as 3G technology had been made available in far-off areas. "The government has invested Rs26 billion in Balochistan to spread IT services in remote areas," she said.

The minister emphasised that the government was making all-out efforts to introduce 5G technology in Pakistan by 2020 in an attempt to bring the country on a par with developed economies in terms of technology advancement.



Building on the success of Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, held the first edition of Huawei Mobile Pakistan Congress in Islamabad.

Huawei Mobile Pakistan Chief Executive Officer Saif Chi said the 2018 congress would help in developing playing fields for all players and customers in order to develop better understanding of the technology and prepare themselves for exploiting it in the best possible manner.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2018.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.