July 28, 2020: Pakistani Consulate General in New York hosted a webinar Monday to highlight Pakistan's IT potential that would give a boost to the steady economic progress in the country.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan, welcomed the participants to the webinar titled: “Pakistan-US IT Cooperation: Unlocking the Potential”.
Other speakers included Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, Federal Secretary (IT & telecommunications), Shabahat Ali Shah, CEO National IT Board and Mr. Shahzad Shahid, Chairman of the Pakistan Software Houses Association. Najeeb Ghauri, Chairman and CEO Netsol Technologies Incorporated, and Kewan Khawaja, Founder and Co-CEO Techlogix led the panel of Pakistani-American IT entrepreneurs.
At the onset, the Consul General in New York, Ayesha Ali, underscored the importance of the event in spotlighting the IT potential of Pakistan.
The purpose of the webinar, she said, was to apprise the US IT companies, particularly on the East Coast, of the immense strides made by Pakistan in this sector and to explore opportunities of enhancing Pakistani-US IT cooperation.
In his remarks, Ambassador Asad Khan emphasized that the IT sector was one of the best performing sectors of Pakistan's economy.
As a result of the Government’s policy, there had been phenomenal growth in the IT sector during the last two years. Both the Governments of Pakistan and the US have identified business and investment as a key priority and are working together to engage the private sectors.
The post-coronavirus situation, with an increasing focus on IT technologies, offered new opportunities to Pakistan and the US to further enhance their IT cooperation, the Pakistani envoy said, adding that he intended to hold more such events.
Siddiqui, the IT & Telecommunications Secretary, gave an overview of the Government’s incentives and explained the regulatory mechanism governing the IT Sector of Pakistan.
CEO National IT Board, Shabahat Ali Shah informed the audience about the initiative of International Payments Gateway which once in place would provide an opportunity to small, medium and freelancing entrepreneurs in Pakistan to position their products in the international market and get their remittances online through the same gateway.
These channelized payments would further augment tax collections on one hand and increase exports, on the other hand, he added.
Ghauri, Chairman NetSol Technologies, Khawaja, CO-CEO Techlogix USA and other IT entrepreneurs shared their experiences of working with IT industry of Pakistan and highlighted the immense scope which existed for further increase in the export of IT-enabled services from Pakistan to US market.
The discussion was followed by a question-answer session. The event was directly attended by over 200 participants; IT companies and entrepreneurs and watched by a large number through a live broadcast on Facebook and Twitter.
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