A meeting on enhancing software and IT collaboration between Pakistan and Australia was organized at the High Commission for Pakistan, Canberra. The meeting was attended by IT professionals from the ACT region, while many IT professionals joined the meeting virtually from Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, and Northern Territory.
Speaking on the occasion High Commissioner, Babar Amin stated that Prime Minister Imran Khan has reiterated the commitment of the government to develop IT sector as a top priority. Pakistan offered a huge potential for Software and IT and has emerged as a preferred outsourcing choice of global software developers, programmers, designers, and the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). It is being ranked as one of the most financially attractive location in the world for offshore services and call centres. He highlighted various subsectors of IT and Software development where Pakistan enjoyed comparative advantage to provide services and solutions to the Australian industry.
Earlier, on the same day, the High Commissioner virtually participated in in a separate meeting of IT professionals from Victoria and South Australia organized by the Consulate General Melbourne. Pakistan Software Export Board was also virtually represented in the meetings by its Managing Director, Osman Nasir, and Director International Marketing, Sulman Hassan. Consul General Melbourne, Sardar Adnan Rasheed and Consul General Sydney, Mohammad Ashraf also participated in both the meetings.
Appreciating the vibrant Pakistani IT diaspora, the High Commissioner invited them to become a bridgehead for IT and Software businesses in the two countries. The participants in the meeting gave their recommendations on the pathway to enhance Pakistan’s Software & IT Exports, attracting investment, joint ventures and B2B collaboration, establishing linkages between Pakistani institutions and professional bodies such MoIT&T, PSEB, P@SHA, PCS, NCEAC with their Australian counterparts, educational collaboration, and holding of virtual meetings between Pakistani and Australian Software & IT companies.
The meetings decided to plan and follow up a comprehensive plan for collaboration in the field of Software and IT between the two countries, both in public and private sectors.