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S. Korea for joint venture in IT sector
SOUTH Korea is keen to forge partnership with Pakistan and explore possibilities for investment and technology transfer in the field of information technology and telecommunication.
This was stated by South Korean ambassador to Pakistan, Jeon Bou-Guan, during a meeting with Federal Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Thursday.
The Korean ambassador also extended an invitation to the minister to visit Seoul for interaction with major IT firms in the public and private sector with a view to forging joint partnerships.
“Our government is keen to forge a constructive relationship with Pakistan to explore possibilities of launching joint projects in the fields of IT and telecom,” Mr Bou-Guan said.
He told the minister that the Korean government and firms were keen to receive him in Seoul to explore ways to boost ties between the two countries in the areas of mutual interests.
Mr Bou-Guan said major multinationals in Korea were also eager to launch joint partnerships for manufacturing of IT and telecom products.
Mr Leghari thanked the Korean government for extending the invitation and hoped that the visit would prove to be a major boost mutual ties. Pakistan is also keen learn from the IT experiences of the public and private enterprises in Korea, he added.
He said Pakistan could draw on the expertise and human resource possessed by the Korean companies in successfully launching the e-government in the country.
He said the Korean companies could also launch partnerships with major business groups in Pakistan many of whom had already approached his office to explore key areas of investment.
The minister also invited the Korean IT companies to set up their development centres in Pakistan given the huge potential the country offered in the areas of investment and return following the deregulation of the telecom sector.
“The deregulation era will mark the beginning of quality services at affordable prices in a fully competitive atmosphere,” he said, adding that tele density ratio in Pakistan currently stood at 2.7 per cent which was likely to jump up to 7-8 per cent with issuance of about 20 million new connections in the next four to five years.
The Korean envoy appreciated the efforts of the government to expand the telecommunication network in the country.
Atta given S&T’s charge
Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has appointed Dr Attaur Rehman as the science and technology ministry’s in charge with the status of federal minister.
After taking the charge, Dr Rehman visited the ministry and met the secretary and other officials.
Talking to Dawn later, Dr Rehman said his priority would be to enhance the budgetary allocation of the ministry to the level where he had left it.
The allocation has been reduced to Rs1.2 billion for the year 2003-04 while during the previous year, it was Rs2.6 billion.
Asked how could he be made a minister when he was not a member of parliament, Dr Rehman, who is the Higher Education Commission chairman, said he had been given the additional charge of the ministry.
He said his priorities would be to strengthen engineering sciences, biotechnology and pharmacy and create linkage between educational institutions and industries.
The emphasis would be on implementing the approved projects of the Pakistan Council for Industrial and Scientific Research, worth Rs2.6 billion, besides testing of the quality of products in accordance with international standards, he said.
IT leadership award
Microsoft, acknowledging the services and contributions made in the field of information technology, has awarded Cyber.Net the “IT Thought Leadership Award.”
Emre Berkin, Vice President, Microsoft EMEA, presented the award, to Cyber.Net Chief Operating Officer Ansar-ul-Haque, in Islamabad. — Dawn ScienceDotcom Report
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