ISLAMABAD – The process of establishing an e-Payment Gateway would becompleted by April, 2020, which would facilitate freelancers in Pakistan,it was learnt on Friday during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister ImranKhan.
PM Khan chaired a meeting for the promotion of Information Technology.During the meeting, Secretary Information Technology Shoaib Siddiquiinformed the PM that a comprehensive action plan has been set up for thepromotion of the IT sector and responsibilities have been assigned to allrelevant ministries.
A representative of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that thegovernment’s decision to increase the monthly remittance limit to $25,000for freelancers will be implemented in the coming two days. It was soughtto provide freelancers with more concessions on the money received and alsomake available the conversion of foreign currency to local currency at theinterbank rates.
Meanwhile, representative from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)representative briefed the prime minister on tax incentives for the ITsector.
Addressing the meeting, the Prime Minister said that the government iscommitted to facilitate the youths in the IT sector in every possible way.Facilitating and providing freelancers is among the government’spriorities, he said.
The Prime Minister said that the promotion of the IT sector will bringhundreds of thousands of youth associated with the sector to utilize theirskills and create job opportunities.
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The Prime Minister directed that the timelines be based on key issuesrelated to the promotion of IT sector, such as the establishment of specialtechnology zones, the issuance of the 5G spectrum, the integration oftowers through fibre-ization in major cities of the country and otherimportant issues.
The PM directed to set up a detailed road map in the next week, in order toremove barriers hampering information technology development.
The meeting was attended by Advisor to Prime Minister on Trade Abdul RazzaqDawood, Special Assistant on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan, Co-ChairmanPrime Minister Task Force on IT and Telecom Dr Ata-ur Rehman, InformationTechnology, Commerce, Cabinet and Finance Division and other seniorofficers.
