ISLAMABAD, July 5: Pakistani IT companies need to look towards the East in addition to their traditional markets in the US and Europe, given the rapid economic growth that is taking place in the South East Asian region.

According to a press release, this was stated by Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari on Monday while talking to members of a trade delegation that returned recently from a three-day trade mission to Malaysia.

The delegation comprising eight IT companies selected jointly by the Pakistan Software House Association (PASHA) and the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) was in Malaysia on the invitation of the Malaysia Multimedia Development Corporation, (MDC).

The visit was arranged by the PSEB which has recently initiated a programme aimed at taking companies and potential customers abroad. The Pakistan delegation met with MDC officials and later had one-on-one meetings with a number of MDC-status companies in Kuala Lumpur.

The visit overall was a very useful one, said Ms Jehan Ara, the president of PASHA. "We have made the first point of contact, and some of the companies are close to signing agreements, which is an excellent progress," she told Mr Leghari.

The minister highlighted the role that trade delegations could play in enhancing the exports of IT and IT-enabled services from the country. "Malaysia too is finding that a number of back office functions can be performed at lower cost and better quality in Pakistan, and hence Pakistani IT companies should look towards Malaysia and Singapore as a source of long-term business," he said.

The Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and the Malaysia MDC signed a memorandum of understanding for further collaboration in the field of information technology in October 2002 on the occasion of the visit of the then Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohammad, to Pakistan.

This MoU also came under discussion during the recent visit of the trade delegation and the two sides agreed to revisit this MoU based on the results achieved so far.

Mr Leghari was of the opinion that even in this age of email and video conferencing, "nothing compares to face-to-face meetings, particularly when making the first contact".

Malaysia offers state of the art technology infrastructure in the shape of Multi Media Super Corridor and the Multi Media University, where cutting edge research is being conducted in the field of graphics and animation.

Pakistani companies have expressed keen interest in leveraging this infrastructure, especially when this can be combined with the inherent competitive advantage of low cost and high quality manpower that Pakistan possesses.