Pakistan CIO Summit: IT Minister Promotes Gender Balance in the Sector

Recently 4^th Pakistan CIO Summit and EXPO 2016, along with 2^nd IT Showcase Pakistan 2016 was help at a local hotel in Karachi. It was organized by Solutions Inc with the theme called “Solutions for Tomorrow: Vision 2020”.  The Summit was divided into three sessions. IT governance, cloud computing and data analytics were the three main keys discussed in this session.

Pakistan CIO Summit: IT Minister Promotes Gender Balance in the Sector

Ministry of Information Technology actively participated in the event. The chief guest and the State Minister of IT Anusha Rehman while speaking to the event briefly explained the role of ministry’s vision for IT. The vision is to accelerate digitization ecosystem to enable socio-economic development, to expand knowledge-based economy, and to spur the economic growth.

She further added that;

“IT is the fastest growing export sector of Pakistan at present with a growth rate of over 41% during 2014-15. Pakistan is also in Upwork’s top 5 countries, the world’s largest freelancing network, in terms of freelancing revenue.”

While focusing the role of government the Minister said that the government is offering many incentives to investors in IT sector which includes

• Zero taxes on exports
• 100% repatriation of profits
• 100% equity ownership
• 7-year tax holiday for venture capital funds

The minister also focused on the role of women in IT sector. While promoting the concept of gender balance, Anusha Rehman mentioned that the ministry has kept a minimum percentage of 30% females in all industry support programs which include internships and trainings to motivate more females to join the IT workforce.

The chief guest also visited different stalls and emphasized that industry should play its role to provide a better picture of Pakistan’s IT industry worldwide.