An agreement has been signed in Islamabad on Tuesday between the Ministry of Information Technology and Korea Exim Bank for Rs 10b loan announcing the establishment of a state-of-the-art Information Technology (IT) Park in Islamabad.
Speaking at the ceremony, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the government envisions Pakistan’s future as digital and financially inclusive.
He added that during the previous tenure of PML(N), Awami Markaz building in Islamabad had been successfully converted into a software park and now a multi-purpose IT park is going to be established in collaboration with South Korea. The Minister said Pakistan favors closer cooperation between the two countries. He also appreciated Korean assistance in the construction of Pakistan’s first motorway – Islamabad-Lahore Motorway.
Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman, said that the modern technology park would be an integrated facility and will help realize the dream of digital Pakistan. She also announced that after Islamabad, international standard information technology parks would also be established in Karachi and Lahore.
Anusha Rehman added that Islamabad Park will be equipped with a data centre and will have a capacity to accommodate more than 100 IT companies.
Speaking on the occasion, representative of the Korean Exim Bank said that the institution’s decision to cooperate with Pakistan in IT sector is in view of the country’s potential in the sector.
He said that there are more than two thousand IT companies in Pakistan and universities are producing hundreds of thousands of IT personnel. He added that Korean Exim Bank is willing to contribute towards socio-economic development in Pakistan.