By Asim Hussain
ISLAMABAD: Minister of Information, Technology, and Telecommunication (MoITT) Syed Amin Ul Haque on Monday said the government would extend full support to the freelancers for doing business, bank account opening, bringing foreign remittances to Pakistan, and availability of seamless internet connectivity across the country.
The minister expressed these views at an event arranged by the MoITT to launch its 2nd DigiSkills Program for Freelancers. An agreement in this regard was signed between Ignite National Technology Fund and the Virtual University of Pakistan.
The agreement was signed by Chief Executive Offiver Ignite, Asim Shahryar Husain, and Rector, Virtual University Pakistan, Dr. Arshad Saleem Bhatti. The ceremony was also attended by the Chief Guest Federal Minister for IT and Telecom Syed Amin Ul Haque, Secretary MoITT Dr. Mohammad Sohail Rajput, and officials of IT Ministry, Ignite, and Virtual University Pakistan.
In his address, Syed Amin Ul Haque said with the country’s increasing internet connectivity, broadband penetration, young and educated youth, thousands of IT graduates, and million-plus enrolled university students, Pakistan could increase the number of freelancers and bring foreign exchange to the country through the initiative.
Pakistan is the 4th fastest growing country in terms of freelancers and their earnings in the world, he said. “State Bank’s figure for freelancing exports during 2020-21 was US $ 396 million and we hope that it will reach half a billion dollars by June 2022†, he added.
Federal Minister appreciated the DigiSkills results and said DigiSkills had played a commendable role in equipping emerging and existing freelancers with knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques necessary to seize the opportunities available internationally in online freelancing marketplaces.
Highlighting DigiSkill’s role especially women participation, the Federal Minister for IT said, “During the first phase DigiSkills got total enrollments of 2,232,801 from more than 300 cities of Pakistan and from abroad.
Out of which 74 percent (1,653,400) were male and 26 percent (579,281) were female. Most of these trainees were Pakistani youth (70 percent) and the majority (60 percent) of these were students who completed Intermediate or Bachelors.
