Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja has expressed the confidence that IT exports will cross the mark of three billion dollars this year.

Taking the floor in the National Assembly, she said the IT exports are expected to touch the mark of 25 billion dollars in next five years as per the vision of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The Minister of State said the IT sector remained one of the key sectors during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visits abroad. She said an agreement was signed with the Huawei Company of China under which Islamabad will be made a smart city, while the safe city project will be extended to other cities of Pakistan. She added that 300,000 youth will be trained under this understanding which is beginning from the next month.

 Shaza Fatima Khawaja said training will be started with Google, Microsoft and other leading IT companies of the world to prepare at least 1.5 million IT certified individuals over the next five years. She said the DigiSkills programme will be further expanded. She said we are working on establishing the Centre for Excellence for Gaming to promote the gaming industry in the country and start-up ecosystem where all the students have uniform opportunities to grow in the IT sector.

On the legislative side, the Minister of State said Pakistan’s first ever Cyber Emergency Policy, draft of the National Artificial Intelligence policy, and Personal Data Protection Bill have been prepared, while a committee on National Semiconductor policy has been formed.

Shaza Fatima Khawaja said Pakistan’s National Digitization plan has been prepared, which include Digital Economy, Digital Governance, and Digital Society.