ISLAMABAD – Pakistan is launching a Made in Pakistan portal where 50,000artisans will be brought online. “In Pakistan we think development of Smalland Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is directly linked with development of crossborder e-commerce,” Minister for IT said this while highlighting Pakistan’sinitiatives taken to promote Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
She was addressing a round-table on the sidelines of World Economic Forum(WEF) on e-commerce: A new era for world trade, making SMBs a global forcefor development at Davos.
According to a message received here, she said through a comprehensivePublic-Private Partnership whereprivate sector is represented in large numbers, the government hasconstituted an E-Commerce Policy Board directly under stewardship of PrimeMinister.
The Minister said her Ministry, along with Ministry of Commerce iscoordinating this policy initiative to formulate a comprehensive E-Commercepolicy framework in the country which will help small businesses reapbenefits of digital technology.
However, the challenges remain and discussions like these are very welcomein finding ways to address these challenges.
“The sooner we find solutions for e-payments, infrastructure capacities,facilitative regulatory framework and credit financing for smallbusinesses, the sooner we will provide SMBs a chance to effectively playtheir role in inclusive trade and development,” she added.The Minister said the answers lie in international cooperation, effectiveengagement and a true conviction to help the smallerand poorer of this world.
She stressed that lot of corrective measures are needed, so that globalsouth is not treated merely as a pool of customers but given equalopportunities to offer their goods in global markets.
The Minister said, “The availability of digital platforms has eased servicedelivery and e-education, e-learning, e-health,e-agriculture etc are some of avenues where industry can actively work withgovernments.”
Anush Rahman said industry and government priorities should be synchronizedand sustainable partnership models need to be operationalized underPublic-Private Partnership (PPP) to achieve societal and industrialbenefits.
Anusha Rehman also highlighted the initiatives undertakenby Pakistan through its Universal Service Fund (USF) to spread the ICTservices across length and breadth of the country.
She also highlighted that our programmes worth billions ofrupees, are targeted at provisioning ICT services, trainings to women andgirls to reap benefits of economic opportunities offered by ICTs and atsame time to enable them unleash their potential and become productivecitizens of digital world.
The Minister while appreciating industry’s focus on digital servicesinitiatives concluded that “It is through collective efforts of bothgovernments and private sector to actively and positively leveragedigitalization that societies can be fundamentally transformed in asustainable way.”
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