Awais seeks stronger Pak, Japan ties in IT, Telecom
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari Wednesday sought greater partnerships between the Japanese IT firms and Pakistan’s software houses to produce high-end products and services that could later be outsourced by the international market.
“Pakistan is an ideal place for Japanese investment and the fact that Japanese companies that have invested in Pakistan in the past have been able to reap rich harvests, reflects on the high ratio of return for their businesses in Pakistan”, he said in a meeting with a team of Japanese businessmen representing the Marubeni company which is a major Japanese’s conglomerate with over 5000 employees worldwide. IT secretary Farrukh Qayyum and other officials of the ministry were also present.
The minister highlighted the growth achieved by Pakistan in various sectors, especially the IT and telecom sectors which were leading the way to an economic turnaround in the country. “It is the right time for companies such as the Marubeni Corporation to take advantage of these positive economic conditions and investment opportunities in Pakistan”, he added.
The minister was told that Marubeni Corporation was already marketing major Pakistani IT products in the international market and the company had been thoroughly impressed with the improvement in quality and the maturity of industry over the past few years. Awais Leghari assured the Marubeni of the ongoing support of the IT ministry and directed the Pakistan Software Export Board to work aggressively with Marubeni Corporation in expanding their business partnerships in Pakistan.
He emphasized that in joint ventures with established companies such as Marubeni Corporation, Pakistan could further expand the high-end business process outsourcing sector. He told the delegation hi ministry was also implanting targeted human resource development training programs to meet the dynamic needs of the industry and the government would be glad to train more professionals to meet the specific needs of the BPO sector.