ISLAMABAD: Improved cooperation between Pakistan’s parliament and the Saudi Shoura Council will have an impact on the whole course of bilateral relations, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser told Arab News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
“We have signed a memorandum of understanding between the National Assembly of Pakistan and Saudi Shoura Council on Dec. 23 in Riyadh,” Qaiser said, adding that the agreement forges collaboration between the standing committees of the Pakistani parliament and of the Shoura Council.
They will collaborate to “directly benefit each and every field, as we have a standing committee for each ministry,” and the collaboration will lead to policy changes and enhance cooperation on the ministerial level, as every minister is a member of the committee related to his or her institution.
“Under the MoU, Pakistan will provide training to Saudi Shoura Council members at the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Studies (PIPS),” Qaiser said.
Economic ties are expected to improve through the collaboration as the standing committees for commerce “will work closely to enhance bilateral trade,” Qaiser said, citing very low current trading volumes between the two countries. The Assembly and Shoura “will make a combined standing committee and prepare recommendations for policy changes on both sides, which will be subsequently implemented by the respective commerce ministries.” The committee will also identify potential export goods.
He said that cultural exchanges as well would get a boost as Shoura chairman Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Sheikh has shown great interest in enhancing cultural relations, especially as Pakistanis are historically and religiously familiar with Saudi culture.
“Both countries will also closely consult on legislative procedures under this MoU,” Qaisar said, adding that he has already started meetings with parliamentary leaders of different political parties in the National Assembly to get the agreement with Shoura “fully functional within the next few months.”
He said that during his last visit discussions took place on holding an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers session on Kashmir in Islamabad, as Saudi Arabia supports Pakistan’s approach to the situation in the Indian-administered territory.
“Pakistan always maintained that Kashmir issue should be resolved according to UN resolutions,” Qaiser said, adding that Saudi King Salman agreed with the stance and also expressed his desire for the OIC session to take place.
However, since tensions are developing in the Middle East, the meeting will have to be postponed.
Pakistan to train Saudi parliamentarians, says National Assembly Speaker
https://arab.news/gv8wm
Pakistan to train Saudi parliamentarians, says National Assembly Speaker
- Says Pakistan-Saudi parliamentary cooperation will lead to policy changes
- The two countries will also work closely to enhance bilateral trade
Government says Pakistan preparing Cyber Security Act as digital expansion raises risks
- The proposed legislation will create Cyber Security Authority to oversee the country's cyber defenses
- IT minister warns misuse of genetic and digital data could enable targeted cyber and biological threats
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is preparing a Cyber Security Act and a dedicated regulatory authority to strengthen defenses against rising digital threats as the country rapidly digitizes government services and economic systems, IT Minister Shaza Fatima said while addressing a ceremony in the federal capital on Wednesday.
The planned legislation is part of Islamabad’s broader “Digital Nation Pakistan” initiative, which aims to expand e-governance, a cashless economy and online public services while safeguarding national cyber infrastructure.
“The more we move toward digitization, with the kind of opportunities that are opening up for us, it is also bringing an equal, or even greater, set of challenges,” the minister said. “This does not mean that we stop digitization. It means that we must make our cybersecurity systems robust.”
She said Pakistan had already activated its National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) and provincial CERTs to detect and respond to cyber incidents, while a multi-agency digital monitoring framework known as the National Threat Intelligence System (NTIS) operates around the clock.
“We have a Cyber Security Act coming up, under which a Cyber Security Authority will be established.”
The minister said cybersecurity was not a “generic” concept and required multiple technical specializations as well as comprehensive monitoring and regulation. She warned that the rapid expansion of data-driven technologies was creating new risks even as it opened opportunities in areas such as health and biotechnology.
Referring to advances in genomics and precision medicine, she said the same technologies that help treat diseases could also pose security risks if sensitive biological data were misused. She warned that access to large-scale genetic data could potentially allow hostile actors to develop targeted viruses or other biological threats against populations.
The minister also highlighted Pakistan’s cyber defense capabilities, saying government and military systems remained secure during last year's war with India despite sustained cyber warfare attempts.
She said multiple institutions, including the IT ministry, the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC), national cybersecurity teams and the armed forces’ cyber command structures, worked together to defend critical systems.
“Despite that massive war ... we did not face a single communication breakdown and we did not allow any penetration into our government systems,” she said, adding that the experience demonstrated the need to further strengthen cybersecurity coordination across institutions.
