SIFC Gears Up for Next Meeting: Check out the Agenda Points!

The Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) was established by the government of Pakistan a few months ago. The Council includes a range of stakeholders with the Prime Minister and Army Chief at its helm. It is aimed at capitalizing on the country’s untapped potential in pivotal sectors of defense production, agriculture, mining, information technology (IT), and energy through domestic and foreign investments. SIFC held five meetings in which a range of issues were discussed. Now, the sixth meeting of the SIFC is going to take place on Wednesday and 6 agenda points concerning the Ministry of IT & Telecom have been included.

The meeting will take place at the Prime Minister’s house and will be presided over by Caretaker Prime Minister  Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar.

Agenda Points of the 6th SIFC Meeting

As per a source, the following agenda points related to MoITT will be discussed in the upcoming meeting:

• The 5G auction.
• Steps taken for High Tech IT HR & Freelancers.
• Steps taken to bring digital payment solutions.
• Venture capital fund.
• Establishment of virtual STZs.
• Formulation of national space policy and rules.

In addition to that, the State Bank of Pakistan will provide a briefing to the apex committee on digitization and improvement of forex retention for IT firms.

As per the sources, MoiTT has already sent the summary for the establishment of the spectrum auction committee to the federal cabinet. Furthermore, the impediments faced by the authorities in the early auction of 5G and the allocation of spectrum will also be part of the discussion in the meeting.

The ministry also informed that the fund of Rs. 10 billion is being allocated for the training of HR in the IT sector. The source indicates that a total of 100,000 individuals will be trained in IT through this fund.

Moreover, steps are being taken to bring PayPal and Stripe to Pakistan. The business model of Pakistan has also been shared with PayPal and Stripe, and the outcome of the discussions with these two payment gateways will come out in the upcoming few weeks, according to the Ministry of IT & Telecom.

The most significant concern for freelancers was the lack of infrastructure. Therefore, it has been decided to set up 5 thousand e-employment centers for freelancers throughout the country. It is a 50 billion rupees initiative under which the government will render interest-free loans.

Furthermore, as per MoiTT, the government is establishing a 100 billion rupees venture capital fund for startups in collaboration with partners and donors. This fund will assist in strengthening the startup and fintech ecosystem by rendering support to new ventures and startups.

Also read:

Embracing Tech Excellence: MoiTT’s Bold Move to Train 15,000 Individuals