[Pakistan] Sustained efforts in IT sector needed

["Irfan Khan" <khania@super.net.pk>]

[On 23rd and 24th January 2001 Dawn, which is Pakistan's largest 
circulation English-language newspaper, organised a two-day event 
"IT: The Future of Pakistan". A special supplement was also published 
by the Dawn which is available at  
http://www.dawn.com/events/infotech/index.htm . The following 
newsitem -- and a couple of more items that I intend to share with S-
Asia-ITers in days to come -- focuses on IT in Pakistan, and related 
issues. irfan]


Sustained efforts in Information Technology sector needed 

By Nizamuddin Siddiqui and Khalid Rehman 

KARACHI, Jan 23: Speakers struck optimistic notes at the inaugural 
session of the country's largest infotech event, "IT - the Future of 
Pakistan", the doors to which were opened by the federal minister for 
science and technology on Tuesday morning. 

They were, however, of the view that though Pakistan had made a 
promising start in the field of information technology it must 
sustain its efforts for several years to come before it could achieve 
its goals. 

The speakers at the two-day event, organized by the Dawn Group of 
Newspapers at the Expo Centre, included the federal minister for 
science and technology, Prof (Dr) Attaur Rehman, and the vice-
president of the Intel Corporation, Christian Morales. 

Mr Morales praised the government's policies as well as Pakistanis' 
capabilities but cautioned that the policies made today could haunt 
for decades to come. 

Prof Rehman said that the country must produce thousands upon 
thousands of qualified infotech professionals and upgrade the 
educational institutions before it could forge speedily forward in 
the information technology field. He announced several initiatives 
that his ministry was going to launch in the next couple of months. 

The minister said that whatever had been achieved so far was largely 
due to the efforts of the private entrepreneurs. Pointing towards the 
problems the bureaucrats and government functionaries posed, he said: 
"I have been trying to get round the government rather than through 
it." 

The minister was of the view that the governments were like black 
holes which often were their own worst enemies. "I was humbled by the 
support the Pakistani entrepreneurs from the United States to 
Australia extended to me." 

He announced that on March 23 internet kiosks would be opened at the 
country's airports. "These kiosks are being set up with the 
collaboration of Intel Corporation. And 1,800 internet kiosks will be 
set up at petrol stations throughout the country with the help of 
Pakistan State Oil," he added. 

Similarly, the newly-reduced bandwidth rates would come into force in 
March after the submarine cable was made operable, he said. To 
encourage the local scientists and engineers as well as to attract 
Pakistanis working abroad to return, the minister stated, their 
salary structures were being revised upward. 

"We had formed a committee for the purpose which had submitted a 
proposal, which in turn has been approved by the finance ministry." 

Prof Rehman said that under the new scheme of things the salary of a 
scientist or engineer would be linked to the number of 
internationally-cited research papers he produced. "This way a good 
scientist can earn up to Rs100,000 a month." 

The minister informed the audience that to organize a rather 
disorganized IT education sector the government planned to establish 
national testing and accreditation organizations. The organizations 
would help standardize IT certification. 

He observed that the world had become a knowledge- and technology-
driven place. The globe's haves were the countries, which had 
mastered hitech and the have-nots were the peoples which were not 
well educated. 

He said that the gap between the haves and have-nots was widening. 
The information technology afforded the developing countries like 
Pakistan a chance to catch up with the developed world. "This 
opportunity has not been created by us but the opportunity 
nevertheless is there." 

Giving examples of how wide the technological gap was, he said that 
one company in Hong Kong had an annual sales of $3 billion which was 
one-and-a-half times the total annual development budget of Pakistan. 

Similarly, the budget of a Singaporean university was to the tune of 
$600 million to $700 million which was about eight times the total 
budget of his ministry. The minister made passionate appeal for 
investments in education, knowledge or human resource development. 

Addressing the elite gathering, Christian Morales of the Intel 
Corporation said that Pakistanis were a highly talented people and if 
the right kind of policies were adopted it could become a major 
player in the international IT market. "Pakistan can learn a lot from 
countries like Malaysia in this regard." 

Mr Morales was of the view that the country had several universities 
and institutions which were producing good quality technocrats. "Keep 
on building your capacities and initiatives and soon you could be a 
major player." He said the worldwide e-business market - that is 
business conducted online - was expanding rapidly and by the year 
2004 it would be to the tune of $7 trillion, which is the size of the 
United States economy. "In Asia alone the size of e-business will be 
$1 trillion, that is the size of the Chinese economy." 

Mr Morales and his team demonstrated several products. He also 
described his organization's endeavours in the field of e-business. 
Hameed Haroon, the chief executive of Dawn Group of Newspapers, 
expressed the hope that the mega event would act as a catalyst for 
change. 


http://www.dawn.com/2001/01/24/top5.htm