September 13, 2002	Friday	Rajab 5, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 12: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman Maj-Gen Shehzada Alam Malik (retired) on Thursday said Pakistan was adopting modern technology for socio-economic welfare of the South Asian region.

He was speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Saarc technical committee on transport and communication on Thursday. He said Pakistan was firmly committed to the aims and objectives of the committee.

He said there was a huge reservoir of human and natural resources within the region, having great potential to contribute to the economic development of the Saarc member states.

Referring to the telecom sector, which constituted an integral part of communications, the PTA chairman said the sector had witnessed tremendous growth over the past few years by utiliszing modern technologies and improving infrastructure for the uplift of the common man. “We had taken significant steps in the field of telecommunications by expanding telecom systems and services to keep abreast of the Information Communication Technology era,” he emphasized.

He said consistent efforts were being made to deregulate telecom sector, which would provide vast opportunities to the investors to reap benefits in a deregulated scenario.

As a regulatory body, the PTA was exploring all avenues to provide a cordial atmosphere to the genuine investors. He said over the last few years, the whole telecom network had been digitalized; the cellular mobile industry had achieved about 400 per cent growth and internet services had been extended to more than 800 cities. Tremendous increase in pay phones and establishment of IT institutions and, specially, the Virtual University for IT learning are some of the steps the government had taken to boost the telecom sector, he stressed.

The PTA chairman said in line with the global trends, Pakistan had adopted a liberal framework for communications and transport, which laid the foundations for a competitive environment. He said a liberal framework would facilitate flow of resources and technology to cater to the increasing demand of communications and information services.

He said Pakistan had embarked on an ambitious plan to develop the communications and transport infrastructure for meeting requirements of the region. For this purpose, a network of roads and highways was being established in the country, he added.

Highlighting the importance of Saarc, he said the organization could play a pivotal role in the development of the region by enhancing capability in transport and communications, and capacity building in this critical sector of economy.

The chairman expressed the hope that the Saarc member countries would transform the region into an information and communication highway through mutual cooperation and interaction, resulting in socio-economic uplift of the common man.

The technical committee is one of the organs of Saarc to promote the telecommunications and postal facilities among the member countries and sort out the problems in the field.

At present, Pakistan held the chairmanship of technical committee. Its first meeting was held in January 2001 at Islamabad.

During the three-day meeting, avenues to enhance cooperation between Saarc countries at government and civil society levels will be explored. Special focus will be laid on issues like implementation of plan of action on telecom, evolving common Saarc position on World Telecom Development Conference, Istanbul 2002 and World Summit on Information Society, Geneva 2003, issues related to postal services, cooperation in transport sector and cooperation with international and regional organizations in the field of transport etc.