CPEC to boost digital economy

Biggest challenge is absence of internet facility in backward areas

BEIJING:

China’s digital economy grew at an average of 15.9% from 2012 to 2022, according to data released at the Global Digital Economy Conference recently held in Beijing.

Security Experts (Pvt) Limited CEO and Centre of Information Technology (CIT) former director general Ammar Jaffri believes that Pak-China cooperation can help accelerate the digital economy development in Pakistan. “The digital economy of Pakistan is going forward at a very good pace,” stressed Jaffri.

“There are two really important things for its development. First, the economy is documented now. Our national database institution NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) has assigned a specific ID number to each citizen, according to which their economic behaviours can be checked. Other institutions, like the banking system, are also documented.

“Secondly, the youth are very dynamic. Their earnings through Amazon ranked fifth or sixth in the world. Also, people learnt to work from home during Covid-19, and many are earning good.”

Jaffri told the China Economic Net that the biggest issue for some backward areas in Pakistan in the way of developing the digital economy was that there was no internet facility available there. “For that, the SDGs academy is trying its best to get these services available in those places.”

“These underdeveloped areas have also got benefits through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which runs from Khunjerab to Gwadar,” added Jaffri.

He believes that cooperation with China could play an important role in developing the digital economy in the whole country.

The article originally appeared on the China Economic Net

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2022.

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