Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has termed the role of information technology as vital for the development and stability of Pakistan.

He was speaking at the high-level discussion on the role of new technologies in promoting trade and investment at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He said provision of best ecosystem, strong infrastructure, bandwidth, banking options, policy framework and continuity of policies in the IT sector is the top priority of the government.

He said Pakistan is the first country to implement the digital FDI initiative.

To fully leverage the benefits of IT, he stressed the importance of ensuring its horizontal expansion.

The Minister said that Pakistan is fortunate that it has the third largest population of freelancers.

Muhammad Aurangzeb said Pakistan's monthly IT exports hit record high of 384 million dollars in December.

He expressed government's commitment that the IT sector will be strengthened with the cooperation and support of the Digital Corporation Organization (DCO).

He said Special Technology Zones will be operationalized and the private sector will be made the leader of the country's economic development.