A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Pakistan Software Export Board, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board, and the University of Science & Technology Bannu for setting up the first-ever software technology park in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Osman Nasir, Managing Director-PSEB, Prof. Dr. Khair Uz Zaman, Vice Chancellor-University of Science and Technology, Bannu, and Dr. Sahibzada Ali Mahmud, MD KP IT Board, signed the MoU here on Wednesday.
The signing ceremony was attended by Syed Amin Ul Haq, Federal Minister for Information Technology & Telecommunication, Muhammad Atif Khan, Minister for Science, Technology & IT, KPK, Dr. Sohail Rajput, Federal Secretary IT, and senior officials from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication.
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Speaking at the occasion, Syed Amin Ul Haq, the Federal Minister for Information Technology & Telecommunication, said that Pakistan’s IT industry achieved significant expansion and export growth. The present government is focusing on the development of the IT industry in the secondary and tertiary cities of Pakistan to generate holistic economic growth beyond Pakistan’s major tech hubs, he said. He emphasized the need for close liaison between the IT Industry and public sector entities for ensuring holistic growth of Pakistan’s IT sector.
Atif Khan, KP Minister for ST & IT and Food Department, said that the steps being taken by the Federal Ministry of IT and Telecommunication for fulfilling the vision of digital Pakistan are appreciable. He said that the KPK government wanted to jointly work with the Federal Ministry of IT and Telecommunication for the promotion of IT.
Dr. Sohail Rajput, Secretary IT, said the MoU for the establishment of a Software Technology Park in Bannu is a major achievement as it covers multifaceted cooperation in terms of establishing a software technology park at the university campus, facilitating startups and freelancers as well as enhancing industry-academia linkages for holistic growth of the IT industry in the region.
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MD PSEB, Osman Nasir, said that seven software technology parks with a combined space of 153,949 sq. ft. have been set up since January 2021. Work is well underway towards establishing software technology parks in universities such as the Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) Karachi, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, and Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Sciences & Technology University (QUEST), Nawabshah, he apprised.
Currently, there are 19 software technology parks across Pakistan with 1.2 million sq. ft. of space offering state-of-the-art facilities to technology companies, he said.
