Search form

You are here

  • Home
  • Pakistani companies speak of ‘overwhelming’ response at Saudi Arabia’s LEAP tech convention


Pakistani companies speak of ‘overwhelming’ response at Saudi Arabia’s LEAP tech convention

Pakistan's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ameer Khurram Rathore (first from left) is presenting a souvenir to the Digital Cooperation Organization's Secretary-General Deema Al Yahya (first from right) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 7, 2023. (Photo courtesy: P@SHA)
Short Url

https://arab.news/vthpv

Updated 08 February 2023
Follow

Pakistani companies speak of ‘overwhelming’ response at Saudi Arabia’s LEAP tech convention

  • Eighteen of Pakistan’s top IT, telecom companies, 10 startups attend LEAP conference in Riyadh
  • “Saudis have a lot of trust in Pakistani companies, especially in IT and telecom,” says Pakistani official
Updated 08 February 2023
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s leading IT and telecom companies spoke about the “exciting and overwhelming” response they received from the Saudi market at the annual LEAP tech conference on Wednesday, where they signed various agreements with the Kingdom’s top companies relating to the export of services and joint ventures. 

LEAP 2023 is a global tech event that aims to bring together the world’s leading companies, innovators and experts “to discover new ideas, build new partnerships, and connect with inspiring mentors and investors and tap into the limitless potential of tech to build a positive future,” the Pakistan Embassy in Riyadh said in a statement earlier this week. 

According to LEAP organizers, over 100,000 tech innovators and leading experts from around the world gathered at the event. There, they interacted to discover new ideas, build new partnerships, and connect with inspiring mentors and investors, the organizers said. 

Numerous technological companies from around the world are participating in the four-day event which will end on Thursday.

Pakistan’s mission in Riyadh said 18 top IT and telecom companies from the South Asian country and 10 startups from the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, crypto, robotics, 3D printing and other areas are taking part in the LEAP event this year. 

The Pakistani companies are taking part in the conference in collaboration with the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), and the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA).

“We have got an excellent and overwhelming response from the Saudi market at LEAP,” Mohsin Ali, chief executive officer of Inbox Business Technologies, told Arab News over the phone from Riyadh. 




Mohsin Ali, (right) CEO of Inbox Business Technologies and Dr. Fahd A. Al Damer, (left) CEO of the Saudi Gissan company, sign MoU for collaboration between the two companies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 7, 2023. (Photo courtesy: Mohsin Ali)

“And we also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Tuesday about a strategic partnership between Inbox and Gissan Group of Saudi Arabia,” he added. 

He said as per the MoU, Inbox Business Technologies would provide support to the Saudi company in the fields of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Ali said his company was also negotiating three other projects related to IT services which would mature after a couple of meetings.

P@SHA Chairman Muhammad Zohaib Khan said their B2B (business-to-business) connect event at the conference on Tuesday night was attended by numerous representatives of Saudi companies where the possibilities of joint ventures and collaborations were discussed.




A group photo of representatives of Pakistani tech companies with Pakistan's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ameer Khurram Rathore (sixth from left) at LEAP23 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 6, 2023. (Photo courtesy: P@SHA)

“Around four Pakistani companies have already signed MoUs with Saudi companies and many more are in the advanced stage of discussions,” he told Arab News.

Saudi Digital Cooperation Organization’s (DCO) secretary-general attended the event as the chief guest, Khan said.

“The future collaboration between P@SHA and DCO was also discussed so that we can increase Pakistan’s IT exports to the gulf countries,” he said, adding that Saudis are doing a lot of investment in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and mechatronics.

This, he said, provided a good opportunity for Pakistani companies to capture their share in it.

Adil Mukhtar, assistant director at TDAP, described LEAP as a gateway to access the big and expanding Saudi IT market.

“The Pakistani pavilion performed very well this year and remained the center of attraction of the visitors,” he told Arab News, adding that many Pakistani companies were signing deals that would mature in the next few days.

“These deals will add up to Pakistan’s exports of IT and telecom services, and bring precious foreign exchange to the country,” he added.

Last year, 24 Pakistani companies participated in the first LEAP edition and a majority of them secured a lot of business from Saudi Arabia, Mukhtar said. He said due to many of these companies opened their liaison offices in the Kingdom to enhance their interaction with the people in Saudi Arabia, he said.

“Pakistan is like one of the major winners of LEAP,” Mukhtar added.

Dr. Hafiz Imran, the head of Pakistani IT solutions company TeleNoc, said the Saudi market was a developing one that was interested in working with Pakistani companies. He said this year’s LEAP tech conference featured a lot of companies and individuals who were looking for joint ventures and business opportunities.

“Saudis have a lot of trust in Pakistani companies, especially in IT and telecom sectors because our companies provide quality services at low cost, which suits them,” he told Arab News.

Topics: #pakistan #LEAP23 tech convention #SAUDI ARABIA

With monitors and lawsuits, Pakistanis fight for clean air

Updated 10 sec ago
AFP
Follow

With monitors and lawsuits, Pakistanis fight for clean air

  • Independent air monitors expose gaps in official pollution data
  • Pollution exposure linked to heavy health and economic costs
Updated 10 sec ago
AFP

KARACHI: With pollution in Pakistan hitting record highs in recent years, citizens clutching air monitors and legal papers are taking the fight for clean air into their own hands.

More than a decade ago, engineer Abid Omar had a “sneaking suspicion” that what the government described as seasonal fog was actually a new phenomenon.

“It wasn’t there in my childhood” in Lahore, said the 45-year-old who now lives in coastal Karachi, where the sea breeze no longer saves residents from smog.

With no official data available at the time, Omar asked himself: “If the government is not fulfilling its mandate to monitor air pollution, why don’t I do that for myself?“

His association, the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative (PAQI), installed its first monitor in 2016 and now has around 150 nationwide.

The data feeds into the monitoring organization IQAir, which in 2024 classified Pakistan as the third most-polluted country in the world.

Levels of cancer-causing PM2.5 microparticles were on average 14 times the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum.

Schools are often shut for millions of children and hospitals fill up when the smog is at its worst, caused by a dangerous combination of poor-quality diesel, agricultural burning and winter weather.

PAQI data has already played a key role in the adoption of pollution policies, serving as evidence during a 2017 case at Lahore’s high court to have smog recognized as air pollution that is a danger to public health.

Using one of their air monitors, PAQI demonstrated that “the air quality was hazardous inside the courtroom,” Omar said.

The court then ordered the regional government of Punjab to deploy its own monitoring stations — now 44 across the province — and make the data public.

But the government also says private monitors are unreliable and cause panic.

Researchers say, however, that these devices are essential to supplement official data that they view as fragmented and insufficiently independent.

“They got alarmed and shut down some stations when the air pollution went up,” Omar said.

3D-PRINTED MONITORS
Officials have overhauled the management of brick kilns, a major source of black carbon emissions, and taken other measures such as fining drivers of high-emission vehicles and incentivizing farmers to stop agricultural burning.

Worried about their community in Islamabad, academics Umair Shahid and Taha Ali established the Curious Friends of Clean Air organization.

In three years, they have deployed a dozen plug-sized devices, made with a 3D printer at a cost of around $50 each, which clock air quality every three minutes.

Although they do not contribute to IQAir’s open-source map or have government certification, their readings have highlighted alarming trends and raised awareness among their neighbors.

An outdoor yoga exercise group began scheduling their practice “at times where the air quality is slightly better in the day,” said Shahid.

He has changed the times of family outings to minimize the exposure of his children, who are particularly vulnerable, to the morning and evening pollution peaks.

Their data has also been used to convince neighbors to buy air purifiers — which are prohibitively expensive for most Pakistanis — or to use masks that are rarely worn in the country.

’RIGHT TO BREATHE’
The records show air quality remains poor throughout the year, even when the pollution haze is not visible to the naked eye.

“The government is trying to control the symptoms, but not the origin,” said Ali.

Pollution exposure in Pakistan caused 230,000 premature deaths and illnesses in 2019, with health costs equivalent to nine percent of GDP, according to the World Bank.

Frustrated with what they see as government inaction, some citizens have taken the legal route.

Climate campaigner Hania Imran, 22, sued the state in December 2024 for the “right to breathe clean air.”

She is pushing the authorities to switch to cleaner fuel supplies, but no date has been set for a verdict and the outcome remains unclear.

“We need accessible public transport... we need to go toward sustainable development,” said Imran, who moved from Lahore to Islamabad in search of better air quality.

Pollution has multiple causes, she said, and “it’s actually our fault. We have to take accountability for it.”

Topics: Pakistan Smog Air pollution Climate Change in Pakistan

Latest updates

With monitors and lawsuits, Pakistanis fight for clean air
Arabian Sea fishing surges as Karachi cold snap lifts seafood demand, prices
Sabalenka sets up potential Raducanu showdown at Australian Open
Mbappe, Vinicius help Real Madrid thrash Monaco in Champions League
Saudi foreign minister and Palestinian prime minister discuss Gaza in Davos

Search form

Print Edition
Read pdf version Subscribe now
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.