KARACHI   -   Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah has announced to set up Software Technology Parks at all divisional headquarters. 

This he said in a meeting with the delegation of the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication, which met him here at the CM House on Monday. Led by Federal IT Minister Aminul Haq, other members of the delegation were Secretary IT Shoaib Siddiqui, Chairman Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) Shahzad Shahid, MD Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) Osman Nasir and others. 

The chief minister was assisted by IT Minister Taimore Talpur, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi, VC NED Dr Sarosh Lodhi, Advisor Tax Policy SRB Mushtaq Kazmi and others. 

Members of the delegation said that export remittances had increased by 137 percent from $370 million in 2014 to $1.231 billion in 2020. 

These IT-based units include call centers, maintenance & repair of computers, hardware and software consultancy services, export of computer software etc, they told the CM. It was vowed that the federal government with the support of provincial governments would strive to include Pakistan in the top 10 ICT exporting countries, if IT parks were established and tax concessions were granted to the IT-based industry. 

Those in attendance agreed to hold meetings with provincial governments to work out a joint strategy to award tax concessions and facilities to the IT-based industry. 

The chief minister said that he would discuss IT-based industry tax regime and proposed concessions at the provincial cabinet meeting. 

“My government is committed to strengthening the IT industry,” he vowed.