Pakistan and China have signed 25 commercial MoUs to promote bilateral cooperation in the IT sector following IT forum held in Chinese city of Shenzhen, says a press release received on Sunday.
Out of 25 MoUs, 15 were by the Pakistani private enterprises and 10 by the COMSATS IT delegation. This was the first-ever forum of its kind held between the two countries which was attended by 63 participants from Pakistan and about 200 from the Chinese side.
The forum was organised by the Consulate General of Pakistan, Guangzhou, China, in collaboration with Shenzhen Science, Technology and Innovation Commission, ShenzhenSoftwarePark, Shenzhen Hi-Tech Park, Shenzhen Science and Technology Business Platform and Shenzhen Software Industry Association.
Participants from Pakistan included Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) represented by its Managing Director Asim Shahryar Husain whereas the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) was led by its Pro-Rector Dr Haroon Rashid. Enterprises from Private Sector Software Industry and members of CIIT’s various Software Houses, TelecommunicationStudyCenter, Information Technology Services also attended the forum.
In his welcoming remarks, Consul General Babar Amin thanked all the Chinese government organisations and private sector associations which rendered their indispensable support to host the forum. The purpose of the forum was to bring Pakistan and Chinese counterparts in Software and IT industry together to create a synergy between them. He emphasized that software and IT industry in both the countries could benefit from each others’ complementary strength in this field to achieve a win-win outcome.
Director General of Shenzhen Science, Technology and Innovation Commission, Lu Jian in his opening remarks informed that Shenzhen’s IT products output in 2013 was worth RMB 1.2 trillion (US$ 200 billion) and its Software products valued RMB 600 billion (US$ 1 billion). Shenzhen’s Software revenue accounted for 1/10th of the total national output.
Welcoming the Consulate General of Pakistan’s initiative to host the Pakistan-China Software and IT Forum, Liu Jian expressed confidence that it would lay solid foundation for future cooperation. He said not only was Pakistan a strategic partner, it also offered cost effective advantage and favourable policy environment.
A key note address was delivered by Chinese software industry veteran leader, former president of China software association and its current Advisor, Chen Chong. He said that Pakistan’s potential in software field was not very well known in China and this forum was the first major breakthrough in bringing software enterprises of the two countries together. Chen assured full support of Chinese software industry to enhancement business ties with Pakistan in the software and IT fields.