ISLAMABAD: China’s Huawei would invest total $100 million in Pakistan during the current year and set up a regional headquarters in Islamabad at a cost of $55 million, Vice President of Huawei Group Mark Xueman said on Wednesday.

Accompanied by delegation, Mr Xueman met with Minister for Planning and Development Makhdum Khsuro Bakhtyar. Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan, CPEC Project Director Hassan Daud and senior officials of the ministry were also present in the meeting.

Mark Xueman said Huawei would also invest another $15m in its Technical Support Centre in Pakistan and hire more people for the same, taking the number of its staff from 600 to 800 during the year.

He said the company was eager to initiate more projects in Pakistan on grant funding from the Chinese government.

Mr Bakhtyar, while appreciating Huawei’s continued engagement in Pakistan, said the company could support in developing and upgrading the information technology (IT) sector of the country.

He said Huawei had 25 per cent share in Pakistan’s mobile industry and was also the top taxing paying Chinese company in the country.

The minister appreciated Huawei’s engagement with the Higher Education Commission for its smart schools project with the latest information and communications technology equipment.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2019