Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, on Tuesday, calling the launch of the first Chromebook assembly line a “defining moment” for Pakistan’s digital transformation, said that the Government of Pakistan was taking concrete steps towards realising the vision of a digital nation.
The deputy prime minister, addressing the event titled “Building the Digital Future, Together” marking the launch of the first Chromebook assembly line, said that localising the initiative would make access to digital tools more affordable and inclusive, particularly in the education sector.
“From the launch of Pakistan’s first Chromebook assembly line to Google’s announcement of establishing a local presence in Pakistan and to the agreement between the Government of Pakistan and Google to upskill our youth, this is a defining moment for our country’s digital transformation,” he said addressing the event attended by federal ministers, IT experts and representatives of tech giant Google.
He viewed that the initiative held great economic significance, marking an industrial milestone, laying the foundation for jobs, supply chain development, and future technology exports.
Dar said that the step would bring Google closer to Pakistan’s developers, startups, and entrepreneurs, enabling direct collaboration, capacity building, and great access to global platforms.
“Let me assure you, the management of Google, you won’t regret setting up all this in Pakistan… You will be very happy to be here… And in the years to come, you’ll find many multinational and other partners coming here. Pakistan is moving fairly fast to achieve the position in the comity of nations, which it was originally destined,” he stated.
He said that under the MoU, Google and Pakistan would collaborate to provide AI skills training for 100,000 developers nationwide.
Deputy Prime Minister Dar assured that the incumbent government was committed to creating an environment suitable for technology investment, collaboration, and the establishment of a sustainable local presence.
For this, he said the government had established the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) to facilitate establishing businesses in the least possible time.
“Our policies aim to make Pakistan a regional hub for technology development, backed by a regulatory framework that supports innovations, ensures transparency, and encourages investment.”
Addressing the concerns of high fiscal tax rates, the deputy prime minister said the government was pursuing an agenda to establish a reasonable, affordable and comparable tax structure.
Coming to the country’s economic outlook, he said that the government was striving to regain and make sure that Pakistan was all set to enter the global G20 club as soon as possible.
He also told the gathering that while Pakistan has total debt and liabilities of $130 billion, it was blessed with mines and minerals, with stones, with hydrocarbons worth around $6 trillion to $10 trillion.
“You can imagine $130 billion debt and liabilities would be peanuts. So we are on that road. We are working on a very fast track.”
