Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) on Thursday called upon Imran Khan-led government not to use Universal Service Fund (USF) for other purposes except the specified task as was done by the previous government. This was stated by OICCI representatives - President OICCI Irfan Wahab, Secretary General Abdul Aleem and others - at a press conference while unveiling OICCI's recommendations on National Program for Digital Transformation.
"There is a need of change in use of USF, and expansion in its range to support the entire system with complete solution of connectivity, technology and content," said Kamal, who was representing Telenor on OICCI. The OICCI has presented its recommendations to Prime Minister, Imran Khan during his recent visit to Karachi, where he lauded the programme. The OICCI representatives also raised the issue of Super Tax and sustainability and predictability in policies. The Prime Minister, however, remained "mum" on a proposal regarding withdrawal of Super Tax. The ICCI members, who are top 200 foreign investors belonging to 35 countries including 50 Fortune 500 companies contributed tax of Rs 2.7 billion last year.
Irfan Wahab Khan, President OICCI while commenting on the Digital Transformation recommendations said: "The advancements in digital technology are inspiring innovation globally. Being amongst the fastest growing mobile markets in the world, Pakistan has immense potential to become a global leader in digital innovation. At present, many businesses and individuals are creating applications and solutions which are helping to accelerate economic growth. If an enabling environment is created through the implementation of the policy recommendations provided in this report, we believe, the economic and social impact will be unparalleled". "The OICCI Digital recommendations have the potential to significantly uplift the socioeconomic well-being of the citizens and generate more than 5 million direct and indirect job opportunities in the country, while at the same time increasing our GDP by $40-50 billion annually by 2025," he added.
OICCI further stated that availability of smart phones should be made available to masses at an affordable rate. OICCI said that smuggling of smart phone should be curbed and importers should pay their due taxes.
Abdul Aleem said that Pakistan has to start local manufacturing of smart phones like India where Samsung has established its manufacturing unit. The OICCI Digital report recommends the urgency for creating a digital friendly ecosystem to empower and enable digital entrepreneurship among the youth of Pakistan who are equipped with a digital skill set. The countries that have embraced the digital revolution have taken action to integrate innovative technologies at all levels of society and the economy and enjoy higher productivity, accelerated growth and enhanced quality of life for their citizens compared to other countries. Besides business use, the use of automation and technology in governance, the OICCI report claims, is bringing significant rewards to the society and countries as is also recorded in the rapid growth of few countries, versus others in World Bank's Ease of Doing Business and other similar competitive measures used to judge the attractiveness of a country for investment and business growth potential.
The OICCI report provides various living example of digitization contributing towards the socio economic development benefiting the larger population in many countries especially in Europe and Asia. "The timing of our recommendations is motivated by the belief that Pakistan is on the radar of all leading foreign investors. Fast adoption of digital services will help build knowledge economy and is critical for the expected growth strategy for Pakistan," Khan added.
He urged the authorities and other stakeholders interested in taking Pakistan to the next level of development to seriously engage with the relevant stakeholders and fast track the implementation of the proposed digital growth plan needed for "Naya Pakistan."
The OICCI recommendations covering 12 different areas: (i) Implement telemedicine in public sector health units (ii) introduce distance learning (e-education) to public sector educational institutes (iii) impart digital skills to the workforce (iv) improve financial inclusion for people at the bottom of the pyramid (v) digitalize agriculture sector (vi) enable digital entrepreneurship (vii) extend the reach of broadband services (viii) transform public services through "digital government" (ix) deploy public cloud and introduce open data (x) Adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) for sustainable development (xi) implement a comprehensive national cyber security policy by adopting a risk-based approach (xii) establish a national center for development of block chain technologies.