ISLAMABAD - Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications plans to take 1000 craft Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) on-board and brought them online under its e-Commerce for Artisan Project.

The project has been approved by Universal Service Fund (USF) Board in Public Private Partnership mode and aimed at providing online platform to craft MSMEs from across Pakistan in leather, carpet, furniture, textile, jewelry and pottery etc.

A document showing Ministry of IT’s accomplishments during first 100 days of current regime on Thursday revealed that in order to build digital skills of girls, through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Girls Project, 70 master trainers have been trained by Facebook and 35 by United Nations (UN-Women) to reach its impact over 1,10,000 girls throughout Pakistan.

As part of Digiskills Programme launched to train free-lancers, almost 10,000 trainings were completed with projected annual estimated earnings around US $ 40 million a year. Minister for IT and Telecom, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has urged human development is the top most priority of the government.

The achievements during first 100 days of the government included over 70 high impact initiatives, ranging from policy interventions to people development initiatives, in sight with government’s big agenda of using lever of technology for socio-economic development of people.

The other major initiatives included on broad front of Governance and Structural Reforms, Prime Minister’s Taskforce on IT and Telecom, having representation from public and private sector experts, has been notified to boost sector’s growth for employment generation.

Moreover, in order to bring in efficiency and effectiveness as part of digital transformation drive, process of rolling-out e-Office Suite all across Federal government is in active stage of implementation.  In this regard, detailed recommendations to Prime Minister’s task force on Civil Structure Reforms and Austerity have also been furnished. Besides, Central Procurement Plan for e-readiness of entire Federal Ministries and Divisions has been approved by Federal Cabinet.

Alongside, to provide an automated mechanism for receiving feedback and complaints from expatriate, Pakistanis Call Sarzameen Portal for Overseas Pakistanis, and online NGO Registration System has been launched.

Similarly, in order to boost e-Commerce and IT exports, multiple initiatives have been taken which included formulation of way forward for constructive engagement with international payment platforms like PayPal, coupled with collaborative working with State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other stakeholders regarding National e-Payment Gateway.

The Ministry has also launched a private sector Software Technology Park in collaboration with Pakistan International Education System (PIES) to provide 72,000 square feet of IT enabled office space to IT companies. With regards to policy interventions in Telecom Sector, resolution mechanism for all outstanding matters including payment of outstanding US $ 800 million from Etisalat has been started after high level agreement with United Arab Emirates (UAE) delegation.

Moreover, in order to curtail counterfeit mobile phone market, Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) Phase-II will become functional on December 1, 2018.

Revision of policies to enable import of used mobile devices and prevention of smuggling through DIRBS would bring around US$ 500 million per annum smuggled handsets and related trading market into tax net.

In order to nurture entrepreneurship, job creation and innovation in ICTs, through National Incubation Centres (NICs) in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, over 121 startups have been facilitated at these Centers, resulting in creation of over 800 jobs and generation of around Rs. 319 million as revenue.

Furthermore, as part of bridging digital divide, 834 Mauzas (with overall population of around 650,000) were provided coverage to unserved and under-served areas of Awaran, Khuzdar, Kohistan, Kharan, Chitral, North Waziristan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) etc.

Besides, 1037 km of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) in 20 Tehsil Headquarters (THQs) and major towns of Balochistan and Punjab has been laid.

Another remarkable feat achieved in terms of successfully contesting elections for International Telecom Union (ITU) Council seat in Plenipotentiary Conference held in November 2018 in Dubai (UAE) by securing 155 votes out of 177 member states.

Ministry of IT in collaboration with National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) has also launched Green Pakistan Initiative to help build Green Pakistan. More than 5,000 plants have been planted across the country under the initiative.