04 October 2004	Monday	18 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Oct 3: Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari has said that the new broadband policy will be announced in a couple of weeks.

He was speaking at the First ITC Excellence Awards ceremony held under the auspices of the Pakistan Software Houses Association, according to a PTCL release issued here on Sunday.

The minister said that the government would also reduce bandwidth rate further. Government departments would establish call centres which, he said, would usher in a new era of prosperity for jobless youth in the country.

Mr Leghari revealed that the National E-government Programme would be launched next year as Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had already approved it. The prime minister, he added, would directly monitor this programme.

He said that the government would provide opportunities to private sector and take along all private players in this sector. He pointed out that the government had provided big opportunities to investors in the telecom sector because with the involvement of new parties, more job opportunities would emerge.

Highlighting the importance of information technology in this era of fast development, the minister stressed that IT companies operating in Pakistan should try their best to achieve and maintain international standards.

Companies providing IT solution should focus their attention on public sector institutions and corporations, he added. Provincial Minister for Information Technology Mustafa Kamal Pasha, Dr Amir Mateen and Ms Jehan Ara also spoke on the occasion. -APP