Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja expressed confidence Monday that IT exports will surpass the $3 billion mark this year, according to Radio Pakistan.

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

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Minister of State for Information Technology said the IT sector remained one of the key sectors during PM Shehbaz’s overseas trips.

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 in Pakistan.

She added that 300,000 youth will be trained under this understanding which is beginning from the next month.

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The minister said the training would 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 the government 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.

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The minister said Pakistan’s National Digitisation plan has been prepared, which includes Digital Economy, Digital Governance, and Digital Society.

Last week, a high-level delegation of Google called on the IT minister. Matters related to the effective use of technology in the field of education, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and digital economy were discussed in the meeting.

The Google delegation comprised Andrew Ure, Head of Trade and Economic Affairs, Asia-Pacific for Google, Kyle Gardener, Government Affairs and Public Policy Lead, South Asia, and Farhan Qureshi, Google’s Country Head for Pakistan.