PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Tuesday inaugurated the Digital Youth Summit 2017 saying the development of youths is one of his government’s top priorities.

He also said his government wasn’t interested in securing loans and was instead encouraging investments in the province.

The event was organised by the KP Information Technology Board and the World Bank, powered by Jazz and supported by USAID and other organisations.

Khattak opens Digital Youth Summit promising uplift of youngsters

A statement issued here said the YDS would provide a roadmap for the province to equip young people with the skills, access, and markets they needed to secure and create jobs in the knowledge economy.

It added that around 4000 people would to attend the discussions and workshops to discuss a wide range of topics from e-commerce to digital security in Pakistan.

The weekend of tech will culminate in the ‘Startup Cup’ for young entrepreneurs to showcase their business ideas to investors.

The CM told participants that his government established information technology board to equip youths with the innovative technology as the future economy would be based on digitalisation.

He said his government attracted the domestic and foreign investors through unmatched incentives besides forming the ITB in order to remove the hopelessness of the youths.

“We will never look to others but will work for ourselves. When we have resources, then we need not to look to others for loan but our priorities are encouraging investors to come put money in the province and get more dividend,” he said.

Mr Khattak said the new age had brought along new dimensions of development that created a big scope for the youth.

He said the development of the youth ranked at the top in his government priorities.

The CM said when he took over, all public sector institutions were not delivering, there was a political interference and those at the helms were self-centric.

He said that he took upon himself to revamp the system making the institutions deliver and that process was still under way.

Mr Khattak said he was hopeful that there would soon be a transparent and free corruption field everywhere in the province.

Dr. Shahbaz Khan, managing director of the ITB, said KP was taking digital opportunities for its people very seriously and wanted to be a leader in technology.

“We’ve already launched programmes to attract investment such as the CPEC and other infrastructure and private sector initiatives and hope to build on these foundations with our private sector and development partners,” he said.

Aniqa Afzal Sandhu, chief digital officer of Jazz, said not only the local people but the country at large too benefited from such initiatives.

“Our country is ripe with talent and has a remarkable pool of digital innovators, who are looking for opportunities like these to present their ideas. This partnership is a testimony to Jazz’s commitment of fostering a conducive environment, where the digital ecosystem can thrive,” she said.

World Bank country director Patchamuthu Illangovan said digital economy was the future.

“It’s a driver of innovation and entrepreneurship than can boost inclusive and smart development in Pakistan. Over 80 percent of Pakistan’s population is offline. Closing this gap will create new job opportunities for the millions entering the labour force,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2017