LAHORE, Feb 4: Governor Khalid Maqbool said on Tuesday Pakistan was well-placed to compete with other nations in the field of software development.

“Pakistan has so far not been able to exploit its real potential in the field as its exports in the sector stood at just $30 million against the world volume of $600 billion,” he said while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of Lahore campus of Oracle University on the Jail Road here.

Governor Maqbool said information technology had enabled the developing countries to catch up the advanced nations.

He said the paucity of training institutions imparting quality education, and qualified teachers, were major problems for the IT sector in Pakistan.

“Both the government and private sectors have to play their due role in producing good faculty and software experts,” he observed.

He said the government had made great efforts for the promotion of science and technology by making more allocations in different fields, especially that of information technology.

He said initiation of different projects, especially in the field of e-governance by the Punjab government, would go a long way in lending support to the software development sector.

The governor said the establishment of IT university by Oracle Corporation reflected the confidence of world companies in Pakistan.

Later, the governor visited different departments of the university.

Former federal law minister Dr Khalid Ranjha, Lahore Chamber of Commerce, Industry president Yawar Irfan Khan, Techno-ed (Pvt) Limited director Tariq Jamil as well as software and IT experts were present on the occasion.—APP