DUBAI: Pakistan has witnessed an increase in information and communication technology (ICT) exports, said the leading players in the field on Wednesday, though the country was still grappling with a lack of adequately trained professionals which was also a source of concern for many digital companies. 
The view was expressed by Pakistani exhibiters at the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) currently taking place in Dubai in which representatives of a large number of ICT companies from across the world are participating. 
The Pakistan Pavilion at the technology show was inaugurated by Federal Minister for Information Technology Syed Amin Ul Haque on Monday who said the event provided an “ideal platform” to the innovators and entrepreneurs from his country to interact and network with global ICT players. 
The minister also noted that Pakistan’s ICT exports had doubled in the last three years. 
Speaking to Arab News, Sheheryar Zakaria, who is representing an Islamabad-based software firm at the exhibition, said the idea was to change the international perception of what Pakistan could offer to the world in the field of technology. 

“We want to get the exposure and see what the rest of the world is focused on,” he said. “To cover the gap of skilled labor, we are hiring fresh grads and training them in technology bootcamps.” 
Other exhibitors also pointed out that Pakistan was beginning to emerge as an important technology development zone in the world, adding it was expected to host the Asia-Pacific ICT Awards in Islamabad in December for the first time. 
“This is the first time 53 Pakistani companies are also participating in GITEX of which 29 are part of the Pakistan Pavilion, 10 are startups while many others are independent exhibitors,” said Muhammad Zohaib Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA). 
The 42nd edition of GITEX, the annual enterprise technology and global digital transformation event, is taking place at Dubai’s World Trade and Exhibition Center until October 14. The companies participating in the event work in the fields of artificial intelligence, blockchain, metaverse, agritech and edtech etc. 
The PASHA chairman said Pakistani firms hoped to generate leads, improve their branding and work on business development by exhibiting in Dubai which is the region’s business hub. 
He maintained the government had recently started ICT bootcamps due to the lack of skilled labor where it was training students within three to six months to meet global expectations. 
Despite such constraints, Pakistan ranked as the second most financially attractive location in the world for offshore outsourcing services on the Kearney’s Global Service Location Index 2021. 
According to a report published by the International Labor Organization last year, the country was also the second largest supplier of online labor in software development and technology. 
The companies involved in Pakistan’s ICT sector are also providing a wide range of services. 
“Recently, we invited some Pakistani celebrities who were interested in producing a drama in the metaverse,” said Zeeshan Abbasi, whose company specializes in blockchain, cloud and artificial intelligence, while discussing the applications of emerging technologies. 
Haque, the information technology minister, already told people in Dubai during the inauguration ceremony of his country’s pavilion at the exhibition that Pakistan’s ICT export remittances had recorded a growth of 47.6 percent in FY 2020-21. 
He also noted that the country’s startups had raised record investment recently which was 450 percent higher than in 2020.