ISLAMABAD, May 11: Information Technology Minister Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Tuesday described the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and the Dubai Internet City as a breakthrough.

"This is a huge breakthrough in our efforts to uplift the IT sector and we are confident the technology park would go a long way towards strengthening the IT industry in the country," the minister told Dawn in a telephonic conversation from Dubai before flying to England where he would attend a one-day 'Pakistan Trade and Investment: The New Frontier' conference scheduled to be held in London on Wednesday.

The minister said he was foreseeing a tremendous growth of IT industry and IT-enabled services in Pakistan as a result of Dubai Internet City's decision to set up a technology park in the country.

"The fact that the Dubai Internet City has shown interest in launching their operations in Pakistan reflects the level of confidence they have in the government policies and the potential of our IT market to grow in the years to come," he added.

Mr Leghari said Pakistan had already seen a rapid growth in the IT-enabled services sector over the past year or so, and the government was committed to providing incentives to investors to ensure sustained growth in this field.

The government had offered a variety of incentives to the investors and some of those contributed significantly to the growth of the IT sector in the recent past, he added.

He said the feasibility report for the park would be ready in a couple of months, adding that the park would not only add value to the local industry but also give a major boost to the efforts aimed at accelerating the information and communication technology growth in the region.

The minister said the Dubai Internet City possessed considerable expertise in creating and managing planned knowledge-industry clusters and it was also keen to share these with other countries, including Pakistan.

Earlier, the MoU was signed at the famous Dubai Internet City, Dubai. The memorandum was signed by Dr Omar bin Sulaiman, the chief executive officer of Dubai Internet City, and Dr Aamir Matin, the PSEB managing director.

Under the MoU, the Dubai Internet City and the PSEB will jointly explore the possibility of setting up a technology park in Pakistan. The two organizations will jointly commit resources in examining the feasibility of such a project.

The export board, being a government agency, is responsible for facilitating the development of the local IT industry by extending all possible help to prospective foreign/domestic investors and to software companies operating in Pakistan.