Japan to tie digital knots with Pakistan

Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor to Prime Minister, has invited Japanese IT companies to engage with and benefit from young, talented and skilled human resource in Pakistan. A webinar about “Current State of Smart City Initiatives in Japan and the Rapid Growth in IT Industry of Pakistan” had been arranged at the Embassy of Pakistan in Tokyo. As, Pakistan is holding rich IT human sources in the form of young and skilled population, Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan Matsuda appreciated the efforts of the Embassy of Pakistan in Tokyo for taking this next-step by making Pakistan as first choice to tie digital knots. The beneficial webinar was attended by a large number of IT companies and professionals where high level Japanese experts from academia, technology industry and city management spoke about the future vision of Japan of smart cities. Without any doubt, it can be adumbrated that the future revolves around artificial intelligence and internet of things capabilities, guaranteeing orientation to the global agenda of sustainable development goals. Due to decline in Japanese population, an increasing shortage of young IT engineers and programmers has been predicted in Japan with an estimated demand of around 800,000 engineers by 2030. Keeping in view the demand and need, Pakistan could be an attractive source as the country is becoming a prominent supplier of skilled workers to the world owing to a large proportion of young and educated population. Matsuda from Mitsubishi Research Institute spoke about harmony and interaction associated with smart cities, whereas Prof Furutani from Keio University – an expert on smart cities in Japan, presented a strategy for utilizing foreign workers in development of these modern infrastructures. JICA’s Advisor for Pakistan on ICT, Jogasaki also shared his views on the future demand of human resource in Japanese IT industry. Ajmal Awan, Member of International Coordination at Ministry of Information Technology briefed about Pakistan’s digital transformation through enhanced connectivity, improved digital infrastructure, increased investment in digital skills and continued support for innovation and technology entrepreneurship. Mori, General Manager, Policy Innovation Department of Tsukuba City– one of the partners in Japan’s Smart City initiatives, updated on the project which is being promoted by both public and private sectors. He specifically discussed the changes in supply and demand for IT resources and technologies such as AI, IoT, autonomous driving, drones and regional networks that will be critical to implement this new and futuristic vision of Japan. Tahir Cheema, pointed out salient features of Digital Pakistan Policy and the current government’s efforts to support innovative startups predicts about a new century of digital utilization.  As Pakistan is ready to partner with Japan in the field of information technology, this will not only provide opportunity to Japanese companies but will also turn out a millennium to evaluate Pakistani startups for investments.