Dr. Umar Saif chairs 2nd Roundtable Conference on IT industry

Lahore: Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) Dr. Umar Saif has said that Government of the Punjab has taken consummate steps to support IT industry in Pakistan. He said it while presiding over second Roundtable Conference on IT held at Arfa Software Technology Park last day.

The conference was organised by the TechHub Connect, a project of the PITB. In addition to veterans of IT industry & academia, representatives from The Punjab Revenue Authority, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Commerce & Trade of Pakistan were also present in the roundtable conference.

He said “Punjab has made the Internet Broadband services 20% cheaper in Pakistan by withdrawing the internet tax while facilitated the IT Industry by imposing zero tax on IT exports.  The 8% tax on IT industry revenue is likely to be reduced to 2% by the government on our suggestion. Federal Ministry for Commerce has committed to promote IT industry abroad through the extensive network of commerce counsellors. PITB will facilitate the provision of visas and support to increase tax holiday for IT related exports for next three years.”  He hoped that Pakistan’s IT related exports would be increased from $3 billion to $10 billion in the next 5 years.

Dr. Umar Saif informed the participants that “Digital Punjab Campaign” would be launched in collaboration with the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@ASHA)to embody all such decisions. He said “As part of the campaign, PITB is formulating a comprehensive Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Policy for Punjab that will address issues related to taxation, access to global markets, attracting investments in the IT sector and human resource management.

President of P@SHA, Ms. Jahan Ara appreciated PITB and Punjab Government’s leadership for their continuing support to IT industry. She also informed the participants that the Digital Punjab campaign would serve as the cornerstone for the larger Digital Pakistan campaign, with its success to be replicated in the other provinces as well. The initiative received unanimous approval from all participants and was heralded as a major step towards establishing Punjab as a major IT hub for the global investors.