ISLAMABAD, March 19: Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Friday called for greater cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey in the fields of information technology and telecom.

"The government has already liberalized the telecom sector in Pakistan which offers great potential for investment in this sector due to low tele density," he told Turkish ambassador to Pakistan Hasan Kemal Gur, who called on him on Friday.

The minister highlighted the government's efforts to promote IT and telecom sectors, with particular focus on the expansion of internet and telephone facilities in far-flung areas.

He said the government was actively encouraging private-public partnerships and there were plenty of opportunities for the Turkish businessmen to forge such partnerships with the PTCL and other such entities in Pakistan.

The organizational restructuring of the PTCL was also underway to bring about a change in the business attitudes and to prepare the company for the competition expected following the entry of new players in the wireless local loop and long-distance international telecommunication areas, Mr Leghari said.

Referring to the e-government initiative of his ministry, he said his ministry had launched an aggressive programme to ensure a quick delivery of IT-enabled public services to the people. Besides, international giants like Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Oracle were already coming to Pakistan in a big way to participate in the growth of the telecom sector, he added.

The ambassador assured the minister of his country's cooperation in the promotion of IT in Pakistan. He told the minister that the IT companies in his country were looking forward to investing in Pakistan in the wake of deregulation process in the telecom sector in the country.

Mr Leghari thanked the ambassador for his country's support and expressed the hope that the relations between the two countries would continue to grow in the relevant areas in future.