ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Tuesday witnessed signing of an MoU between Telenor Group and Ant Financial Services Group for strategic partnership agreement in Pakistan.
Minister for IT & telecom Anusha Rehman, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing, Norwegian Ambassador to Pakistan Tore Nedrebo and senior management of Telenor and Ant Financial were present on the occasion.
According to the MoU, Ant Financial Services Group will invest $184.5million in Telenor Microfinance Bank ("TMB"), a subsidiary of Telenor Group, to further develop TMB's mobile payment and digital financial services.
PM Abbasi appreciated the partnership between Telenor Group and Ant Financials, and said that it is a manifestation of favourable government policies for foreign investment in Pakistan.
He welcomed Ant Financial's decision to invest in Pakistan and lauded Telenor's efforts towards the socio-economic development of the country.
He said that the collaboration would help broadening access to financial services through digital payment solutions.
Meanwhile Harvard University students on an eight-day trip to Pakistan called on Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi at PM Office Tuesday.
The visit, organized by Adnan Afaq, MD Pakistan Credit Rating Agency, and Sobia Maqbool, an alumna of Harvard University, was designed to provide these students with an alternative view of Pakistan not typically conveyed to the international community.
Over 30 meetings and activities were arranged to showcase the diversity of Pakistani culture, politics, food, art, and geography. The students' engagement s with these many facets of Pakistan will help advance the narrative around the country when they return to Boston.
In little more than a week, these students - primarily from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, but also representing the College, School of Public Health, Graduate School of Design, and Law School - will travel the length of the country, from Gilgit to Islamabad to Lahore, concluding the trip in Karachi.
Trek participants were accepted from a very competitive applicant pool of Harvard community members eager to learn more about Pakistan.
By visiting the private homes of host families, exploring rural village culture, meeting with policymakers, and learning about the wonderful work of organizations like the Edhi Foundation, these students and their Pakistani counterparts promote people-to-people conversation.