LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday said that if incentivised and facilitated, the technology industry could help overcome the current account deficit of the country by boosting exports as well as addressing the issue of unemployment.
The prime minister, while addressing the inauguration ceremony of Lahore Technopolis, a special technology zone, said the project would help provide incentives to the tech industry and bring ease for the businessmen in accordance with the government’s vision.
He added that the IT sector would also address the issue of unemployment of the women.
On the occasion, the prime minister lauded Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and other relevant ministers for allocating 800 acres of land for the purpose, which he said was the “future of the world”.
Exemplifying Amazon, Google and other tech giants, he said during COVID-19, all other businesses had faced a slump but profits of tech companies had multiplied.
“Unfortunately, Pakistan lags behind in the sector despite having ideal conditions including a huge young population,” he said, adding that Indian tech exports had boomed to $150 billion within 15 to 20 while Pakistan could reach only $2 billion, despite improving by 70 per cent on a yearly basis.
Prime Minister Imran Khan stressed the objective behind establishing technopolis projects in Lahore, Karachi and KP was to make Pakistan join the tech race and provide employment to the people. “We want to attract our IT firms and professionals working abroad so that they can invest in Pakistan,” he added.
Earlier, the premier had distributed licenses among the companies which would be operating in the technopolis.
The event also marked the signing of an MoU for an investment of $300 million for establishment of another three technology zones in different parts of the country.
CM Buzdar said Lahore had been selected to be part of the technopolis project considering the existence of universities, tech institutes as well as companies in the city which will help carry out tech-based researches and studies.
It may be mentioned here that in order to attract investment to the technopolis project, the government has given a 10-year tax exemption to companies operating in the special tech zones whereas according to CM Buzdar, companies from various countries like US , Canada, China and Australia are approaching Pakistan to make investments in this regard.
