Govt urged to set up media-tech city

ICCI says facility needed to help start-ups and young entrepreneurs

ISLAMABAD:

The government should set up a cluster in Islamabad to promote information technology and the media industry, said Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Friday. According to an ICCI statement the government should consider establishing a media-tech city in Islamabad in order to develop an ecosystem for promotion of media and IT sectors.

“Pakistan has abundant talent and providing young graduates a place to launch their ideas will provide a potential to export software products,” said ICCI President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan. He was talking to a delegation of National Press Club Islamabad that visited ICCI led by Senior Vice President Arshad Waheed and Secretary General Anwar Raza.

Group Leader Afzal Butt, former President Tariq Chaudhry, Finance Secretary Sagheer Chaudhry, Siddique Sajjid Baloch, Azhar Jatoi and others were in the delegation. Ilyas said that the mediatech city would provide a platform to young professionals for launching new businesses and thus contribute towards creation of job opportunities and economic development of the country.

He said that the government should also introduce a relief package for start-ups to foster an ecosystem of entrepreneurship in the country. Many countries have made drastic cuts in interest rates with the aim to support businesses to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and urged that SBP should also reduce the policy interest rate bringing it down to two to three per cent that will give a boost to SMEs and help accelerate economic activity in the country. Speaking at the occasion, NPC Senior Vice President Arshad Waheed and Secretary General Anwar Raza, said that the business community was playing an important role in the economic development of the country and the government should address its key issues on priority.

They said that Pakistan needed to attract more local and foreign investment for developing many sectors of its economy including tourism, energy, and infrastructure development. He urged that the government should focus on establishing a one window operation facility to facilitate the potential investors.

They said that the current policies of FBR were not supportive in business promotion and FBR should re-orient and re-align its tax policies in a manner that should facilitate the private sector in promoting business activities. ICCI Senior Vice President Fatma Azim, Vice President Abdul Rehman Khan and former President ICCI Muhammad Ejaz Abbasi appreciated the role of journalistic community for providing updated information to the society and added that they should also cooperate in highlighting the key issues of business community to bring them into the notice of policymakers for redress that would help in improving the economy.

Shakeel Munir, Umais Khattak, Khalid Chaudhry, Ashraf Farzand and others also spoke at the occasion and stressed the need for more close cooperation between ICCI and NPC to promote the common cause of their members.