ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar emphasized the country’s young and dynamic population was capable of positioning it as a competitive provider of high-quality information technology services while addressing the Digital Foreign Direct Investment (DFDI) forum in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The two-day forum, inaugurated on April 29, is co-hosted by Pakistan and the Riyadh-based Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO). It has brought together over 400 delegates and more than 200 IT and telecom companies from over 30 countries.
The DCO, established in November 2020, is a global multilateral organization that seeks to accelerate the inclusive growth of the digital economy. Its founding members include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Pakistan.
Pakistan is also set to assume the DCO presidency, reflecting the South Asian state’s commitment to digital transformation.
“Digital services exports have become a cornerstone of [Pakistan’s] economic strategy,” Dar said. “Pakistan’s growing pool of highly skilled tech professionals is creating world-class solutions for clients across the globe.”
“With our young, dynamic workforce and expanding capabilities, we are positioning Pakistan as a reliable and competitive source of high-quality digital services,” he continued.
Dar highlighted the country’s demographics as a significant advantage, adding Pakistan had over 140 million Internet users and 73 million smartphone users, making it among the top 10 countries globally in terms of online population.
He also emphasized the opportunities within the DCO region.
“The potential of the DCO region is immense,” he pointed out. “With a combined GDP of $3.5 trillion and a population of over 800 million, it is one of the most promising frontiers for digital investment.”
“At this forum, we are not just identifying investment-ready markets and emerging startup ecosystems,” he continued. “We are spotlighting scalable innovations in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing and other frontier technologies.”
He highlighted Pakistan’s commitment to building world-class digital infrastructure and invited global investors to benefit as well.
“Let me emphasize that Pakistan offers a compelling proposition to global investors,” he said. “With investor-friendly policies, regulatory reforms and a cost advantage of up to 70 percent compared to North America, Pakistan creates the ideal environment for sustainable and profitable growth.”
A day earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced Pakistan had secured approximately $700 million in foreign investment commitments by hosting the forum, underscoring the country’s appeal as a digital investment destination.
Sharif also met DCO Secretary-General Deemah AlYahya earlier today and called the forum a “transformative moment” for the country’s digital economy.
“Pakistan’s most valuable asset is our young workforce,” he said. “Equipping them with digital skills and training is among our top priorities.”
The prime minister said the DFDI forum and its international participation reflected Pakistan’s potential to lead in the global digital economy.
He also met executives from major IT firms participating in the two-day forum, including Russoft, sAi Venture Capital, Mashreq Bank and Mindhyve.ai, who collectively pledged about $700 million in digital sector investment.
“Pakistan stands on the threshold of a transformative leap,” he told delegates, reaffirming his government’s support and commitment to building long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships.
Sharif said Pakistan’s goal was to become a regional hub for technology, finance and innovation, aligned with its ongoing fiscal reforms and digital infrastructure expansion.
Pakistan positions itself as ‘leading digital nation’ at inaugural online FDI forum
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Pakistan positions itself as ‘leading digital nation’ at inaugural online FDI forum
- Pakistan ranks among top 10 nations by online population, with 140 million Internet and 73 million smartphone users
- PM Sharif says Pakistan stands on brink of digital transformation, backed by investor confidence and young workforce
Pakistan says Afghanistan has created conditions ‘similar to or worse than’ pre-9/11 attacks
- The statement followed a suicide blast at a mosque in Islamabad that killed over 30, injured 169
- Pakistan frequently accuses the Afghan Taliban of backing militants, an allegation denied by Kabul
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s president has warned that the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan has created conditions “similar to or worse than” those before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a sign of rising tensions with Kabul after last week’s mosque attack in Islamabad, which analysts said Monday highlights militants’ reach to the capital.
Asif Ali Zardari made the remarks while thanking the international community for condemning Friday’s suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque that killed 31 worshippers and wounded 169. Without directly blaming India, Zardari also said Pakistan’s eastern neighbor was “assisting the Taliban regime and threatening not only Pakistan but regional and global peace.”
In a statement issued Sunday, Zardari said Pakistan “takes strong exception to the situation in Afghanistan where the Taliban regime has created conditions similar to or worse than pre-9/11, when terror organizations posed threats to global peace.” He added that Pakistan had long maintained terrorism cannot be confronted by any single country in isolation.
The unusually strong comments were likely to irk Kabul and New Delhi, both of which have condemned the suicide attack claimed by Daesh (Islamic State) and have denied any involvement.
The previous Afghan Taliban government, which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, had been blamed for sheltering the Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden who was behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that killed more than 3,000 people in the United States. The Afghan Taliban also allowed Al-Qaeda to operate training camps within Afghanistan, despite international warnings. However, bin Laden was killed during a US commando operation in Pakistan in May 2011.
Last week, Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry and New Delhi, in separate statements, rejected the Pakistani allegations, saying Islamabad had irresponsibly linked them to the attack.
Pakistan frequently accuses the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in August 2021 in Afghanistan, of backing militants including the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Both deny the accusations.
There was no immediate response from India or Afghanistan to Zardari’s latest allegations, which came after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the bomber involved in the attack was a Pakistani and trained by Daesh in Afghanistan.
Naqvi said security forces had arrested four suspects, including an Afghan national accused of links to the militant group and of helping mastermind the attack. The detainees included the bomber’s mother and brother-in-law, according to officials who said investigations into the attack were still ongoing.
Pakistan has not shared full details about the involvement of the bomber’s family, however.
On Monday, Naqvi received telephone calls from his Italian counterpart Matteo Piantedosi and European Commissioner Magnus Brunner, who condemned the mosque attack. According to a government statement, Naqvi maintained that “Pakistan is a shield for the world against terrorism and emphasized that strong global-level measures are needed today to protect the world from terrorism”.
Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s former special representative for Afghanistan, said Zardari’s warning was “unambiguous: terrorism thrives where it is tolerated, facilitated, or used as a proxy.”
He wrote on X that “allowing terrorist groups to operate from Afghan soil and India’s use of proxies to destabilize Pakistan is a dangerous path with grave regional and global consequences.” Durrani added, “Peace demands responsibility, not denial.”
Another Islamabad-based analyst, Abdullah Khan, said the preliminary findings into the mosque bombing suggest the attack may reflect a pattern seen in some IS attacks involving close family networks. He said the IS affiliates have at times recruited entire families, pointing to past attacks in Pakistan and Indonesia.
Although Islamabad has seen fewer attacks than some other regions, Pakistan has experienced a recent rise in militant violence, much of it attributed to Baloch separatist groups and the TTP, which is separate from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban.
Daesh’s regional affiliate, a major Taliban rival, has carried out attacks across Afghanistan.
