ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Information Technology Minister Dr. Umar Saif described Pakistan as the region’s emerging digital hub while addressing a conference in Doha on Monday, urging tech companies in his country to benefit from Qatar’s burgeoning market.
The Pakistani minister is leading his country’s first IT delegation to the Arab state with stated aim to attract investment and explore opportunities for local software houses and freelance developers.
In line with broader trends in the Gulf region, Qatar is actively diversifying its economy and focusing on the technology sector, taking smart city initiatives, launching tech start-ups and hosting technologically advanced events like the FIFA World Cup 2022.
The minister arrived in Doha on a five-day visit over the weekend and inaugurated an IT conference earlier in the day.
“Dr. Umar Saif has said that Pakistan is the emerging digital hub of the region where 30 thousand IT companies and more than 75 thousand IT graduates every year are the way to make this country the future information and communication technology (ICT) hub,” his ministry in Islamabad said in a press statement.
He also pointed out that Qatar was home to abundant Pakistani knowledge workers, asking Pakistani tech companies to leverage the country’s “resourceful diaspora to establish a foothold in the market.”
The Pakistani minister said his country had tremendous potential to provide technological solutions and collaborate with tech firms in Qatar, particularly in emerging fields like AI and cybersecurity.
He commended the Arab state for taking a big leap in establishing data centers and bringing Microsoft Azure Cloud, adding that Pakistan had a lot of capability in cloud management, data center operations and cloud applications.
He mentioned an upcoming gathering of investors and start-ups scheduled to be held in Qatar, hoping that Pakistan would benefit from it and expressing confidence that his country was poised to produce the next billion-dollar unicorn.
