February 3, 2006	Friday	Muharram 4, 1427

LAHORE, Feb 2: Some American Information Technology (IT) companies are likely to invest in Pakistan during the next six months in response to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s recent visit to the US.

This was stated by chief executive officer of an IT company Salim Ghauri, who was part of the official delegation during the prime minister’s visit, while speaking to reporters.

“There are clear signals that some big names from the US IT sector are planning to establish their facilities in Pakistan six months down the line,” he said.

“Many international brands in the IT sector like SAP from Germany are thinking of shifting their businesses from India owing to high labour cost, a trend which opens up a new venue for Pakistan’s IT sector,” he added.

He said it was for the first time that the prime minister included IT people in his delegation that showed that the government had started giving weight to this sector as well.

According to him, the prime minister chaired two different sessions on IT with the American as well as US-based Pakistani entrepreneurs and briefed them about the business-friendly environment in Pakistan for investing in the IT sector.

“Issues like human resource shortage, infrastructure problems, internet connectivity, Pakistan’s country perception, travel issues, IPRs, cost of land and extremism were discussed during the two sessions,” Mr Ghauri said.

He said the premier pleaded Pakistan’s case very well and told the US audience that the government had set up a Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and announced tax exemption for the IT companies to encourage investment in this sector.

He said Pakistan had introduced visa relaxation for businessmen from certain countries including the US to make convenient their travel to Pakistan.

He said his company had also assisted the prime minister on projecting positive image of Pakistan. “I made it clear to the US IT companies that the issue of land cost was specific to major cities like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad but still a vast area of land was available on very cheap rates around these major cities,” he said.

He said he also informed the US entrepreneurs that the IT companies were producing a good number of IT professionals besides a good number of professionals from the call centres and Business Process Outsourcing.

Mr Ghauri said it was high time for the government to address the concerns expressed by the US IT businessmen and suggested that the government should arrange frequent visits of the Pakistan-based IT companies’ delegations to the US and the western countries, hire international consultation firm for building the country’s image and invest more on research.

Similarly, he said, the local IT companies should ensure quality, improvement in the middle level management, R&D and introduction of training courses.

He urged the media as well to focus on the IT industry like it once focused on the textile sector and disseminate awareness about IT among the masses.

“The government, the IT industry, the IT institutes and media should join hands in building up the IT sector in Pakistan as a catalyst of economic change,” he said.