ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday inaugurated Special Technology Zone, Technopolis, in Lahore and signed agreements for bringing investments worth US$300 million for its construction
While inaugurating the project, the prime minister lauded Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar and Higher Education Commission (HEC) team for paving way for building a special technology zone at a barren land spread over 800 acres in Lahore.
“Top tech companies globally have a turnover of US$1000 billion each and even Indian exports from tech have reached beyond US$150 billion,” he said and added that in comparison Pakistan only has exports worth US$1 billion from technology-related products.
He, however, said that Pakistan has a lot of potential with its 60 percent of youth population and the incumbent government is committed to supporting the technology sector and remove obstacles in their way.
This sector, the prime minister said could also resolve employment issues and would pave way for women staying at home to get jobs through online platforms.
“It is unfortunate that as Pakistan’s exports saw a hike recently, our economy witnessed a shortage of dollars, forcing the country to approach the IMF to bring financial stability,” he said and added that the country’s economy could not grow without an increase in exports.
Imran Khan said that the technology sector could alone pay off the entire debt of the country.
“The technological zones are aimed at bringing ease in the sector and take full advantage of its potential,” the prime minister said and cited examples from China and India,, where their people initially invested in those projects and later foreign investors joined them.
While giving the example of China, the prime minister said that they eliminated corruption through planning and initially terminated 450 ministerial-level people over financial wrongdoings.
“China pulled out 700 million of its population above the poverty line in 40 years,” he said adding it was their exports that made China a global economic power.
