Country Director Asian Development Bank for Pakistan Xiaohong Yang called on Minister of State for IT and Telecom Anusha Rehman on Tuesday. The matters pertaining to establishment of IT Park in Karachi were discussed. Federal Secretary IT Aamir Ashraf Khawaja, Member IT Syed Raza Shah were also present in the meeting.
Xiaohong Yang appreciated the progress that the country has made in the arena of IT and Telecom during last four yeaRs Yang apprised the minister that the ADB is ready to grant a loan to Pakistan for building of state of the art, IT Park in Karachi.
She informed the minister that the ADB team of consultants will come to Pakistan to conduct extensive technical and feasibility studies, if the government communicates its consent and selects ADB for this project. The team of consultants will submit their final report after having detailed studies within next three to four months and on the basis of that report, the ADB will formally submit its proposal to the ministry of IT. Anusha Rehman appreciated the offer of the ADB and agreed to revert after it is analyzed by the ministry in detail.
Anusha Rehman suggested that the ADB may assist Pakistan in doing projects to bridge digital and gender divide in ICT sector.
The minister said that transparency and due diligence are two main components of our policy initiatives that they rigorously pursue in the projects. We wish to build many IT parks in the country and need a strategic framework that is usable for both public and private sectors, she added.-PR