Chinese in IT sector of Pakistan

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Newly established ‘Joint Working Group on IT” under CPEC to revitalize IT industry

September 25, 2021






During the 10th Joint Coordination Committee meeting on CPEC, China and Pakistan have announced the establishment of a Joint Working Group on Information Technology, to synergize the existing CPEC framework. Giving details, Ning Jizhe, Deputy Head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said this will help facilitate high-quality development of CPEC. Ning also said that cooperation in IT will be expanded to science and technology as well.


China and Pakistan on Thursday announced the establishment of a joint working group on information technology under the Joint Cooperation Committee for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, marking the latest move to forge closer economic ties between the two nations.

Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation’s top economic regulator, said the two sides will make a big push to boost the high-quality development of the CPEC.

Ning told the 10th Joint Cooperation Committee Meeting for the CPEC on Thursday in Beijing that the corridor is considered a flagship and pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative, and considerable progress has been made during the past eight years.

“The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has brought in direct investment of $25.4 billion to Pakistan and created thousands of jobs for local people,” Ning said. “We will continue to take the CPEC as the core while prioritizing Gwadar Port, energy, infrastructure and industrial cooperation.”

According to Ning, more efforts will also be made to enhance bilateral cooperation in fields such as industry, science and technology.

Asad Umar, Pakistan’s minister for planning, development and special initiatives, said the CPEC has entered the second stage of high-quality development, and he is looking forward to closer economic ties between the two nations.

According to him, the newly established joint working group on information technology will be key to strengthening bilateral cooperation in science and technology, which will help Pakistan embrace the new era of economic development driven by high-tech.

Looking ahead, Umar said Pakistan expects to forge closer cooperation in a wider range of fields, in terms of science and technology, and the country will ramp up efforts to optimize the business environment for Chinese investors.

The one-day meeting, held via video link, was held by the NDRC and the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives of Pakistan. Around 200 representatives of both governments, financial institutions, enterprises and public sectors participated in the meeting.

During the meeting, China and Pakistan also signed five documents for cooperation on different projects under the CPEC to enhance bilateral engagement. The two sides announced the signing of three cooperation agreements between enterprises.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan.

 

[ghazi52]

Chinese company to manufacture smartphones in Pakistan

November 2, 2021



Chinese smartphone and electronics giant Xiaomi, the global consumer electronics & smartphone giant, has joined hands with Select Technologies (Pvt) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air Link Communication Limited has vowed to manufacture phones in Pakistan. As per a statement by Air Link, it is initially targeting the production of an estimated 2.5-3 million handsets annually which will approximately contribute $450 million annually to revenue. The production facility will be located adjacent to Air Link’s existing state-of-the-art mobile manufacturing facility at the Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Estate, Kot Lakhpat Lahore.

Company says it is targeting production of an estimated 2.5-3mn Xiaomi smartphones in Pakistan annually.
Manufacturing of these smartphones will approximately contribute $450 million annually to company’s revenue.
Xiaomi’s production facility expected to be operational within January 2022.
Chinese smartphones and electronics giant Xiaomi plans to manufacture phones in Pakistan, its local partner, Air Link Communication Limited, revealed in a material disclosure statement filed in the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday.

“Xiaomi, the global consumer electronics & smartphone giant, has joined hands with Select Technologies (Pvt) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air Link Communication Limited, as its manufacturing partner for Xiaomi mobile phones in Pakistan,” reads the statement.

Last month, Air Link had announced that it will incorporate a wholly-owned subsidiary “Select Technologies (Pvt) Limited”.

“The primary objective of this wholly-owned subsidiary would be to take on additional mobile device manufacturing of certain selected brand(s),” Air Link had stated.

Air Link said that it is initially targeting the production of an estimated 2.5-3 million handsets annually, which “will have a material incremental impact on the earnings per share of the company other than the normal course of business.”

The manufacturing of these smartphones will approximately contribute $450 million annually to revenue, the company projects.

“The production facility will be located adjacent to Air Link’s existing state-of-the-art mobile manufacturing facility at the Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Estate, Kot Lakhpat Lahore,” read the statement.

The production facility is expected to be operational within January 2022.

Select will be the manufacturing partner whereas Air Link will continue to be one of the largest distributors of Xiaomi phones in Pakistan.

“Courtesy the manufacturing of Xiaomi phones by Select, Air Link expects to substantially increase its distribution and retail business of Xiaomi phones in Pakistan,” it said.

 

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Chinese smartphone brand Realme starts production in Pakistan​

By Admin
Mar 2, 2022

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ISLAMABAD (PEN): China’s Realme launched mobile production in Pakistan. It says, Chinese smartphone brand Realme has started producing mobile phones at its unit in Lahore, Punjab.

“I would like to congratulate RealMe mobiles which has started producing mobiles locally” said Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser to Prime Minister of Pakistan on Commerce and Investment, in message posted on his official Twitter handle, adding, “This has not only created employment but it has also decreased the cost of their locally made smartphones”.

According to Mr. Dawood, the new development aligns with the Ministry of Commerce’s “Made-In-Pakistan” policy of promoting industrialisation and import substitution.

Chinese mobile phone manufacturing companies have played a crucial role in helping Pakistan reduce dependence on imported mobile phones.

In the first quarter of 2021, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, the production of mobile phones by local manufacturing plants surpassed the imports of mobile phones.

According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)’s statistics, during 2021, Pakistan locally manufactured 24.66 million phones and imported 10.26 million phones. In 2020, the number of locally manufactured phones was 13.05 million while the country had imported 24.51 million phones.

 

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The Universal Service Fund (USF) is set to launch a fibre optic project in Gwadar to bring 4G-compatible high-speed internet and telecom services in the region and the project is expected to be completed by the middle of next year.

The USF has finalised the paperwork for several projects including 400 kilometre of fibre project in Gwadar and to bring 4G services in Loralai area of Balochistan, apart from upgrading data services to 4G in Vehari, Lodhran, Sialkot, Narowal, Nankana Sahib and Sheikhpura.

Sources in the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication said that all the above projects were in the process of finalisation and would start after getting approvals from the USF board.

“Tentative date to start these projects is set for the last week of June and will be completed in 12-18 months,” the officials said.

 

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IT companies urged to participate in CPEC projects​

Kalbe Ali
July 16, 2022

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail (L) and IT Minister Syed Aminul Haque participate in the Advisory Council on Information Technology (IT) and Digital Economy.
ISLAMABAD: There is a need to encourage local IT companies to participate in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects for eventual entry into the Chinese market, the Advisory Council on Information Technology (IT) and Digital Economy said on Thursday.
At the first meeting of the advisory council, it was stressed that there must be consistency in government policies to be attractive to local and international investors.

Chairing the meeting, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Syed Amin-Ul-Haque said that Chinese investors were vying to establish another optic fibre link from Khunjerab to Rawalpindi and along the railway line to Karachi.

The meeting was informed that the objective was to link Karachi with Gwadar and carry the cable onwards under sea, towards the Persian Gulf region.

Minister says Chinese investors want optic fibre link stretching from Khunjerab to Persian Gulf

The minister said the government held a high-level meeting with the companies involved in CPEC projects.
“The target was to have market access for Pakistani companies in the Chinese market,” he added.

He highlighted the steps identified to achieve this target, which include facilitating Chinese IT companies in establishing offices in Pakistan.

“We can harness Pakistan’s position in the region to make Pakistan a cloud regional hub, and we need collaboration with Chinese counterparts on cloud initiatives,” Mr Haque said.

Talking to about the ambitious target to export IT services to Chinese markets, the minister said that most Pakistani firms involved in IT exports started as sub-contractors for large companies in the West and other areas.

“Now we have stable IT exports while the freelancers’ base is also strong. Now is the time to ask Chinese companies to outsource projects to the Pakistani IT industry,” he said, adding, “It has been agreed that Chinese firms will start involving Pakistani experts in projects within China.”

The council meeting was attended by Minister for Finance Muftah Ismail, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Shaza Fatima, Senator Afananullah Khan, representatives of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), and council members from the public and private sector.

The advisory council was formed on June 5 and is headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, with the view of promoting the IT industry and enhancing the digital economy of Pakistan.

The council decided to form committees for IT Export, Personal Data Protection, and Telecom Sector Growth.
The three committees will finalise their recommendations in a week, which will be presented to the PM and the Chairperson of the Advisory Council.

The committee for IT Exports is led by former secretary IT Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui; the committee for Personal Data Protection Rules by Senator Afnanullah Khan; and the Telecom Committee is chaired by Jazz CEO Amir Ibrahim.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2022

 

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China assists Pakistan in advancing its geomatics technologies​

August 16, 2022


To develop the geomatics knowledge of Pakistani scientists and officers, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce sponsored an advanced seminar online titled “Geomatics Technology for Pakistan.

This conference was attended by 19 Pakistani professionals and officers from organisations like the Society of Engineers, National Institute of Computer Sciences, University of AJ & K Muzaffarabad, etc. Hunan International Business Vocational College, the seminar’s organiser, claims that the seminar is specifically created to address the needs of Pakistani geo-technical professionals based on a series of research and inquiry on the growth of surveying and mapping technology in Pakistan.

BEIJING, Aug 15 (APP): An advanced seminar entitled ‘Geomatics Technology for Pakistan’ sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of China is ongoing online to help improve Pakistani scientists and officers’ expertise in geomatics.

A total of 19 Pakistani experts and officers from the Society of Engineering, National Institute of Computer Sciences, University of AJ & K Muzaffarabad, etc. attended this seminar.

According to seminar’s organizer Hunan International Business Vocational College, the seminar is specifically designed to meet the actual needs of Pakistani geo-technical experts based on a series of investigation and research on the development of surveying and mapping technology in Pakistan.

During the 20-day seminar, Chinese experts have been sharing the latest geomatics technology of data analysis, processing and application, and the successful experience and practice in the surveying and mapping industry in China with the Pakistani participants.

The seminar is composed of classroom teaching, discussion on specific topics and visits to renowned Chinese enterprises, etc. Notably, cutting-edge equipment including VR drones has also been used for practice.

“Through this seminar, Pakistani experts can learn about the updated development of geomatics technology in China, and the Sino-Pak cooperation potential in the field of surveying and geographic informatics has been fully discussed,”Zhong Huiqun from Hunan International Business Vocational College told CEN.

It’s learned that in recent years seminars on various subjects including automotive industry, engineering and business management have been organized by Hunan International Business Vocational College under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Commerce of China to help drive Pakistan’s industrial upgrading and enhance technical exchange between the two countries.

 

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Pakistan, China to launch three new projects​

October 22, 2022



BEIJING, Oct 21 (APP): Pakistan and China have agreed to launch three new corridors, including the China-Pakistan Digital Corridor that would help enhance cooperation in different fields of Information Technology (IT), said Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque.

Pakistan has a rich repertoire of talent and human resources in different fields of science and technology and IT-based science and technology have become very important for Pakistan.

“We would be an important source of help for China in terms of software development. So, we are working together to set up training centres in Pakistan for developing software in different fields of IT”, he told China Economic Net (CEN).

He said that the two countries recently agreed to launch three new corridors: the China-Pakistan Green Corridor, which would focus on the agricultural environment, food security, and green development, the China-Pakistan Health Corridor which will help Pakistan get efficiency in the medical field, and then the China-Pakistan Digital Corridor which will boost Pakistan’s IT industry.

Ammar Jaffri, former Additional Director General FIA and founder of Digital Pakistan said that emerging technologies have now become a lifeline for the achievement of The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets.

“We are aiming to organise an international conference about artificial intelligence on March 23, 2023, in which local and foreign enterprises would participate and we would take strategic decisions to engage the government of Pakistan, and international organisations in our mega projects”, he mentioned.

He further said that AI in areas of cyber security, SDGs, and emerging technologies is a much-needed zone where Pakistan has to work with China while Pakistan has a young population advantage in the region.

 

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Mobile phone industry to get boost under CPEC:​

January 25, 2023

Development Board (EDB) and Pakistan Mobile Phone Manufacturing Association (PMPMA).

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Industry and Production, Makhdoom Murtaza Mahmud on Tuesday said that the mobile phone manufacturing industry would flourish more under the second phase of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

He said that the country was passing through a hard time, but it was everyone’s responsibility, including politicians, the private sector and stakeholders to work together, adding that mobile manufacturing was a new industry, therefore, they were facing difficulties.

He was addressing a summit titled “Mobile Device Manufacturing” organised by the Engineering Development Board (EDB) and Pakistan Mobile Phone Manufacturing Association (PMPMA).
Mahmud said that by improving the mobile industry, the country’s needs could be fulfilled from domestic production.

He said that the devaluation of the rupee had reduced labour costs and added that the export could be increased by enhancing mobile manufacturing.
He said that Pakistan will come out of these situations in the short term, but “we have to make a long-term policy”.

Meanwhile, Secretary, Ministry of Industry and Production Imdadullah Bosal highlighted that in 2020, a policy was launched to increase the production and half the journey had been completed while half was left.

 

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China’s Sunwalk Group to invest $2bn in Pakistan’s optical fiber network: Federal Minister Syed Amin-ul Haque​

• Sunwalk has already invested about $5m in installing Optical Fiber Cable in Pakistan

BR
March 14, 2023

Sunwalk Group, a Chinese telecom infrastructure company, plans to invest $2 billion in Pakistan’s telecom sector for the deployment of an optical fiber network, encompassing an area of 100,000km.

“Sunwalk has obtained the license to be a telecom infrastructure provider (TIP) in Pakistan. The company will lay 100,000km of fibre cable in Pakistan with an investment of $2 billion,” said Federal Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Amin-ul Haque, during a meeting with a delegation led by the Chairman of Sunwalk Group, Hou Xingwang, on Tuesday.

During the meeting, there was a detailed discussion regarding investment opportunities and the telecom infrastructure sector in Pakistan, read a statement released by the Ministry of IT and Telecom.

It was learnt that Sunwalk has already invested about $5 million in installing Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) in Pakistan.

In the first phase, 5,000km of OFC is being laid to connect different cities of the country.

Chairman Hou said that the company enjoys long-standing relations with Pakistan and provides services to various sectors.

During the meeting, the Sunwalk delegation shared that there are difficulties in laying optical cables along railway lines, highways and motorways.

Amin-ul Haque briefed the delegation that consultation with the Ministry of Railways and Highways Authority is ongoing regarding the right of way to lay OFC. He assured the delegation that all obstacles in this regard will be removed soon.

The meeting was attended by Member Telecom Muhammad Omar Malik, DG Wireless Jahanzeb Rahim while the Sunwalk delegation comprises; Lou Vice President of Sunwalk Group, Tony Li (Assistant to Chairman), Chen Dianbo (COO of Sunwalk Pakistan) and Afshaan Malik (CBO of Sunwalk Pakistan).

 

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Benefiting from the iron brotherhood between China and Pakistan and the potential of Pakistan's telecom market, China Sunwalk Group plans to invest a 100,000 KM nationwide optical fiber cable(OFC) network in Pakistan.
It has invested 5 million USD to build 302 KM in 2022.

 

[Ali_14]

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China’s Sunwalk Group to invest $2bn in Pakistan’s optical fiber network: Federal Minister Syed Amin-ul Haque​

• Sunwalk has already invested about $5m in installing Optical Fiber Cable in Pakistan

BR
March 14, 2023

Sunwalk Group, a Chinese telecom infrastructure company, plans to invest $2 billion in Pakistan’s telecom sector for the deployment of an optical fiber network, encompassing an area of 100,000km.

“Sunwalk has obtained the license to be a telecom infrastructure provider (TIP) in Pakistan. The company will lay 100,000km of fibre cable in Pakistan with an investment of $2 billion,” said Federal Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Amin-ul Haque, during a meeting with a delegation led by the Chairman of Sunwalk Group, Hou Xingwang, on Tuesday.

During the meeting, there was a detailed discussion regarding investment opportunities and the telecom infrastructure sector in Pakistan, read a statement released by the Ministry of IT and Telecom.

It was learnt that Sunwalk has already invested about $5 million in installing Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) in Pakistan.

In the first phase, 5,000km of OFC is being laid to connect different cities of the country.

Chairman Hou said that the company enjoys long-standing relations with Pakistan and provides services to various sectors.

During the meeting, the Sunwalk delegation shared that there are difficulties in laying optical cables along railway lines, highways and motorways.

Amin-ul Haque briefed the delegation that consultation with the Ministry of Railways and Highways Authority is ongoing regarding the right of way to lay OFC. He assured the delegation that all obstacles in this regard will be removed soon.

The meeting was attended by Member Telecom Muhammad Omar Malik, DG Wireless Jahanzeb Rahim while the Sunwalk delegation comprises; Lou Vice President of Sunwalk Group, Tony Li (Assistant to Chairman), Chen Dianbo (COO of Sunwalk Pakistan) and Afshaan Malik (CBO of Sunwalk Pakistan).

Mashallah

 

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Huawei contributes to multilevel digital transformation across Pakistan​

By Mahira Qamar
Jun 14, 2023

ISLAMABAD- “Currently, Pakistan is undergoing a period of Internet and digital services booming, with Huawei Cloud constantly contributes to the development of Pakistan’s digital economy,” Hank Shao, Managing Director, Huawei Cloud Pakistan, told Gwadar Pro at the 2023 Pakistan International Energy Summit held recently.

Since expanding into the Pakistani market in 1998, as of now, Huawei has a total of 3,200 local employees, with a localization rate as high as 91%. In 2018, the newly established “Huawei Technical Support Center” began to provide remote technical support services to other countries.

“At present, our Pakistani business is mainly divided into four major sectors. First, operator services. We serve more than 10 Pakistani operators. Secondly, our enterprise business is to provide services for local organizations, large enterprises, and government agencies, involving public security, health, education, energy, finance and other fields. Third is cloud services, providing resident cloud platforms and public cloud services. Last but not the least is digital energy. We are committed to providing Pakistani customers with smart photovoltaics, data centers, sites energy and other solutions.” The reporter was told that more than 80% of Pakistanis use Huawei services directly or indirectly.

As for cloud services, which endow numerous industries, including the energy industry a digital transformation, Shao noted that Huawei Cloud mainly serves large government and enterprise customers, covering industries such as government, education, energy, and telecommunications. At the same time, it is building FSI Cloud with local partner Khazana, which will be released in July. This service focuses on providing secure and reliable local cloud data center resources for financial customers.

“Cloud solutions are currently widely deployed in key customer computer rooms such as governments, education and operators, supporting key business processes, big data governance, application innovation and other scenarios. In addition to the Khazana I have already mentioned, our local partners also include CMPak, Abacus, and so on,” Shao emphasized, “Under the current economic situation in Pakistan, cloud services are an excellent solution to save investment, optimize processes and improve efficiency, thus widely recognized and welcomed. For us, the digital transformation of government, finance, energy, telecommunications and other industries contains unlimited opportunities.”

To more effectively seize these opportunities, a significant progress made by Huawei in recent years is to train Pakistan’s talented youth. For what the company views as an inevitable direction for the country, talent development was described as the key for sustainability of Digital Pakistan with programs like Huawei ICT Academy, Seeds for the Future and the ICT international competition.

“Every year, we are able to export more than 5,000 technical talents for the entire ICT field of Pakistan through cooperative training with colleges and universities,” Shao forecasted, “We also expect more local talents in the cloud field to serve Pakistan's digital future.”

According to the MD, on June 20, Huawei will host Cloud Canival Pakistan, with topics including DevOps, AI, BigData, expanding new blueprints for local partners and developer groups.

 

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Pakistan expects support from China in batteries sectors​

Shafqat Ali
Sep 28, 2023

ISLAMABAD- The Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology (IT) and Telecom on Wednesday afternoon told Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong that Pakistan was looking forward for support from China in the emerging sectors of batteries.

In a meeting with the Chinese envoy here, Dr Umar Saif maintained that the Pakistani authorities in Pakistan were optimistic for greater help from China in the batteries sectors.

In a post on social media platform X, Umar Saif expressed his delight about the meeting, describing it as “wonderful.”

During their discussions, they explored how Pakistan could harness Chinese technology to advance in the fields of EVs, batteries, chip manufacturing, and telecom infrastructure.

They also deliberated on ways for Pakistani IT companies and startups to tap into the extensive Chinese market and collaborate with renowned institutions such as Tsinghua University.
Pakistan is actively seeking a partnership with China in the realms of IT and telecom infrastructure, the minister told the Ambassador.

Pakistan is also working on domestically producing mobile phone batteries with Chinese assistance, and it offers a conducive environment for manufacturing microchips and telecom products, he mentioned.

On the occasion, the Chinese envoy reassured the minister of their commitment to providing all possible cooperation in the IT and telecommunication sectors.