ISLAMABAD
Friday, March 26, 2010
ISLAMABAD (APP) - Pakistan has jumped 11 places from last year’s 98 to 87 in the rankings of the Global Information Technology Report 2009-2010 released on Thursday by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Pakistan has done well to make a significant leap and should continue to do so if more investments are made in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, related services and more broadly, innovation, the report said.
“It is evident that technology is playing a leading role in accelerating economic growth and promoting development,” said Arthur Bayhan, the Chief Executive Officer of the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF). The CSF, a partner institute of WEF, is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), established to reposition Pakistan’s economy on a more competitive global footing. Bayhan pointed out that CSF has carried out a policy action plan in 2008-09 to mobilize a dialogue across the telecommunication value chain to define the challenges that confront Pakistan’s telecom and IT industry and to address these challenges.
The exercise resulted in an action agenda to tackle constraints and better position the ICT sector in Pakistan to take advantage of opportunities for growth.
“Now within 18 months of the exercise, many of the suggested initiatives and recommendations have taken effect so as to reshape the telecom industry in the most efficient and effective manner.
CSF believes that through this focused initiative it has helped transform the Pakistan telecom domain,” Mr. Bayhan said.
Published for the ninth consecutive year with an extensive coverage of 133 economies worldwide, the Global Information Technology Report remains the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on the development process and the competitiveness of nations. The Nation
