The
Minister of State for Information Technology, Mrs. Anusha Rehman chaired the
36th meeting of the Board of Directors of Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB)
here in Islamabad today. The meeting was convened to review the progress on
different IT initiatives being carried out by PSEB including Prime Minister’s
Internship Program and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). Federal
Secretary IT Mr. Rizwan Bashir Khan, acting MD PSEB Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah
and other board members were also present in the meeting.
Acting MD
PSEB Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah apprised the Board regarding key milestones
which PSEB has completed over the last 04 years. The Board was informed that
PSEB has exhibited at eleven international trade fairs along with more than 65
IT companies generating more than two thousand leads. Exhibiting at the trade
fairs also help improve perception of Pakistan as a viable destination for
outsourcing and investment as Pakistan’s exports to all the countries in which
PSEB participated in the exhibitions have increased.
With active
PSEB technical and financial assistance, more than 30 selected IT professionals
and 28 IT companies have received certifications in Capability Maturity Model
Integration (CMMi) platform with 134 companies have received certifications in
ISO 9001, ISO27001 and ISO 20001 thereby enabling them to solicit exports from
the developed markets.
The Minister
of Information Technology, Mrs. Anusha Rehman said that the performance of
Pakistan’s IT sector can be gauged from the fact that IT Industry exports have
registered a 98 % growth over the past four years resulting in substantial
contribution to Pakistan’s economy through foreign exchange earnings and job
creation. She said that due recognition must be extended to our
freelancers who have catapulted Pakistan on the 4th spot on the largest
freelancing website in the world, Upwork and that it is the goal of the present
government to achieve at least $5 billion
in export earnings by 2020 and $10 billion
by 2025
The Minister
stated that Pakistan is blessed with highly talented youth and the government
is attempting to provide them with best possible opportunities. During the last
04 years, PSEB in partnership with National ICT R&D Fund(IGNITE) has placed
more than 1700 IT graduates this year as interns for practical training in not
only IT companies but also in IT departments of Banks, Telcos/CMOs and
Universities. It is a matter of great pleasure to note that, more than 60% of
these interns were offered jobs after completion of their respective training
tenure.
In future,
the government is in process of launching a comprehensive national level
digital skills training program for freelancers to equip freelancers of the
country (1 million freelancers over 5 years) with the latest skills required to
increase their productivity is also in the offing.
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