ISLAMABAD: The federal government has agreed to incorporate provincial governments’ input in the new cyber security policy for better integration, and for controlling cyber crimes more effectively.

The consensus was reached in the Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee, which was chaired by Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haq, here on Wednesday.

The meeting was attended by Punjab Minister for Higher Education and Information Technology Yasir Humayun, Advisor to Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Science and Technology Zia Ullah Bangash, while the Sindh provincial Minister for Information, Science and Technology Taimur Talpur, and the AJK Minister for IT, Mustafa Bashir Abbasi, joined the meeting through video link.

Federal Secretary IT Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui told Business Recorder that the meeting discussed matters related to the Right of Way (RoW), freelancing, IT trainings, IT parks, spectrum, special technology zones, and cyber security policy etc. He further said that the participants appreciated the ministry’s efforts, and termed it a good step for national integration.

Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haq said that the Ministry of IT was committed to the provision of broadband services in the underserved and unserved areas of the country. Addressing the meeting, Federal Minister for IT said that measures were also being taken to equip our youth with digital skills. He said that information and communication technology was vital for the socio-economic development of the country. He said that provision of broadband services in far-flung areas of the country would be helpful to connect the masses of those areas with the digital world.

The federal minister for IT also emphasised the need for women empowerment, and said that the provinces should also increase the ratio of women in their programmes and projects. He also asked the provincial representatives to regularly upload details of their projects on Centralised Collaboration Portal of the Ministry of IT and Telecom for better collaboration.

Earlier, the meeting was given detailed briefing about the initiatives of the Ministry of IT and Telecom, for the growth of the IT and telecom sectors.

The Secretary IT and Telecommunication, Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, senior officers of the Ministry of IT, and the provincial IT secretaries were also present in the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020