AIA News

ISALAMABAD (AIA) Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif announced that training 300,000 students annually will help increase IT exports. In Islamabad, a four-member delegation led by Ethan Sun, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Pakistan, met with PM Sharif to discuss various issues, including IT training.

Talking to the delegation, the PM highlighted the significance of his recent visit to Huawei headquarters in China, noting that the collaboration with Huawei is most important in various fields, especially for providing modern IT training to the youth. With Huawei assistance, training 300,000 students each year will significantly increase IT exports.

Sharif emphasised that the government prioritises including women and the youth of Balochistan in this training programme. The government values sustainable collaboration with Huawei in Pakistan’s digital economy, aiming to promote the digital economy by establishing a strong base of talented workers in the country. He also stressed the need for digitising government institutions to implement an automated, modern, and faster governance system.

On the other hand, the delegation briefed the PM on the progress of ongoing projects under the cooperation agreement for the Digital Pakistan programme between Pakistan and Huawei.

The delegation reported that a modern-style massive Open Online Courses System has been developed for IT training. It will be implemented in collaboration with the provincial governments, offering support for the creation of a National Data Centre in line with Pakistan’s National Cloud Strategy.

Additionally, the delegation expressed Huawei’s eagerness to partner with the Pakistani government to make Islamabad a smart city. The Islamabad Smart City project will offer facilities like traffic, health and education services, parking, etc. on the digital platform.

Minister of State for IT Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Prime Minister’s Coordinator Rana Ahsan Afzal, and senior officials concerned were also present at the meeting.