PM gives directive for preparing IT road map

Says promotion of IT sector will create millions of jobs for youth

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday directed that a comprehensive road map should be prepared within a week for developing the information technology (IT) sector in the country.

Key areas to be focused include the launch of 5G spectrum, connecting mobile phone towers through fibre links in big cities and defining timelines for other important matters to remove impediments in the way of promoting the IT sector.

The prime minister issued the directive while chairing a meeting on the promotion of IT in the country.

The premier emphasised that the country's future was linked with IT and the government was giving priority to the promotion of the sector by providing incentives to the skilled youth.

He said the country's youth had immense talent and expertise in IT and promotion of the sector would create millions of jobs for them.

IT Secretary Shoaib Siddiqi briefed the prime minister about the incentives for the skilled professional youth and freelancers, increasing exports of the IT sector and tax incentives, easy loans for the youth, facilitation of the foreign remittance process for freelancers and visa-related matters.

He told PM Imran that a comprehensive plan had been chalked out for the promotion of IT sector, for which relevant departments had been assigned duties.

A representative of the State Bank of Pakistan said for freelancers, the implementation of the decision on increasing the monthly limit of foreign remittances to $25,000 would be completed in two days.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2020.

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