Naveed Siraj, Country Manager, Intel Corporation of Pakistan, said on Thursday that the Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) would not have direct impact on the semi conductors' manufacturers, but it might have some indirect implications on the Information Technology sector in the country.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday, he said that taxation policies of the government should promote investment in the country. The RGST might indirectly affect the Information Technology sector in Pakistan. But he rejected the impression that it would directly hit the IT industry. In order to promote information technology the government has to establish public-private partnership with private sector as well as with IT companies.
About the investment opportunities in Pakistan, Naveed Siraj said that with the introduction of new technology, there were bright prospects of attracting foreign investment. It is expected that investors would aggressively make investment in the areas of infrastructure and other allied facilities related to IT during 2011.
To another question, he said that the security of personal data and privacy issues of the users is the top priority of the company. He said that the technological advancement has been witnessed globally at a rapid pace as their use is essential for socio-economic uplift of the country. There was no other way but to apply these technologies and put the country on path to progress. New technologies and trends in 2011 would create new experiences for pervasive computing. As users, we would have a choice among various devices and technologies that would provide the best experience for our intended users. The technologies that were expected in 2011 would be smarter, more powerful, and more useful, he maintained.
He expressed the hope that with the introduction of these technologies, Pakistan would be able to attract more foreign investment. At present he shared that nearly 1.5 billion people were using Internet facility and every year about one billion new users enter the field.
About Intel contribution in the economic development of Pakistan he said that it started contributing to education sector in 2002 and up till now 16,000 teachers were trained. The company specifically focused on education sector. During teacher training programme, he said the teachers were provided top-level Internet usage training. Faster adoption of information technology would add to economic development.
Responding to another query, he said there were some gaps in information technologies usage, which must be urgently filled. The Intel Corporation of Pakistan has donated 4,000 personal computers under a scheme and established 292 computer laboratories. The Intel also offered Students excellence awards at districts, provincial and national levels and finally few students were sent to US, Country Manager Intel added.