Chairman Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization Dr.Talal Abu- Ghazaleh called on Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif at PM House today.
The Prime Minister while appreciating the visit of Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh to Pakistan acknowledged the substantial contributions and achievements of the Chairman, and role of his professional outfit in diverse arenas including his role in promoting ICTs for achieving sustainable development.
The Prime Minister said that Pakistan’s macro-economic stability has been achieved through prudent and sound economic policies of the present government. GDP growth has averaged more than 4% per annum in the period and reached 4.71% in the last year which is the highest in eight years; foreign exchange reserves have exceeded $24 billion, the Prime Minister highlighted. Pakistan’s investment profile has been upgraded by all leading rating agencies on account of successful economic reforms and improved security situation, the Prime Minister expressed with satisfaction.
Government of Pakistan considers ICTs as key enabler to enhance productivity, transparency, and good governance for empowering the people towards attaining the objectives set under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Prime Minister stated. Our vision is ‘Accelerated Digitization Ecosystem’ with special emphasis on ‘Bridging Broadband Divide’ to spur socio-economic growth across the length and breadth of the country for expanding the knowledge based economy, further added the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister said that Pakistan has a flourishing broadband internet community comprising of over 31 million users and has surpassed the growth rate of broadband users from various countries in the region. Transparent 3G/4G spectrum auctions resulted in growth of broadband penetration from less than 3% in 2014 to more than 25% at present, the Prime Minister observed.
Prime Minister highlighted the present government’s well structured and sustained policies in carrying out mega initiatives in the areas of e-government and digital services, financial inclusion, women empowerment through technology, supporting affordability of broadband telecoms, support of entrepreneurship & innovation services and for provision of world-class ICT infrastructure.
Dr.Talal Abu- Ghazaleh highly appreciated numerous socio-economic initiatives and endeavours of the government for technological advancement and lauded the vision of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif for transforming the country on modern lines. The Chairman expressed his desire of not only investing in Pakistan’s IT market as well as other diverse professional sectors including accountancy, ICT and IPR etc. but also to take Pakistan Jordan relations to next levels through promotion of bilateral collaboration at governmental level. The Prime Minister welcomed the intent of the Chairman for promotion of skilled Pakistani IT human resource.
The Prime Minister commended the initiative of TAG-Org on sustainable urbanization and smart cities development which will play an important role to achieve Post 2015 SDGs. The government will extend its fullest support and facilitation to TAG-Org for joint ventures and strategies for development and deployment of digital services in Pakistani markets for the benefit of all segments of Pakistani citizens and to achieve the SDG targets, the Prime Minister concluded.
Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Minister for IT & Telecom Ms. Anusha Rehman and other senior government officials were also present during the meeting.
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