ISLAMABAD, Sept 27: Industries and Production Minister Jehangir Khan Tareen said here on Tuesday the government would extend every possible support to telecom equipment manufacturers in achieving global excellence.

He made these remarks during his visit to a two-day exhibition of “Telecom Engineering 2005” organized by the Engineering Development Board in collaboration with the Pakistan Telecom Manufacturers Association.

The minister said the government considered telecommunication and networking as strategic infrastructure in achieving the national goals.

“The unprecedented development in the telecom sector is going to generate significant engineering activity for the indigenous telecom equipment manufacturers,” he added.

The minister said the telecommunication sector was in the vanguard of economic development in Pakistan at the back of revolution in IT and convergence of IT and telecommunications technologies.

Recognizing the importance of telecom equipment manufacturing sector in Pakistan, Mr Tareen said the Telecom Engineering 2005 was a commendable effort of the Engineering Development Board, which had joined hands with the private engineering sector.

He said that serious endeavour was needed to prepare the engineering sector for global competition and promote export of engineering sector and services.

The minister urged the private engineering sector to enhance their competitiveness, skill and productivity.

“Pakistan is committed to attaining a leading edge in the engineering industry as we have good talents and skills,” the minister said and added that quality and competitiveness of engineering products had to be ensured because of their pivotal role in creating demands.

“We have to adopt modern promotional and strategies to enter new markets,” he added.

—APP