Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Anusha Rahman on Thursday called on Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Houlin Zhao and briefed about recent developments in ICT field in Pakistan.
The minister, who is on a visit to Geneva to attend World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Forum-2015, highlighted the need to increase representation from Pakistan in ITU.
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to United Nations at Geneva, Ambassador Zamir Akram and Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Dr Syed Ismail Shah were also present in the meeting.
She appreciated efforts of the ITU in harmonising use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and invited Secretary General to visit Pakistan which was accepted.
The Secretary General briefed about the ITU HR secondment/loan mechanism, and requested the minister to consider sending technical experts under this scheme.
On the sidelines of the event, the minister also held a bilateral meeting with Dr Eun-Ju Kim, Head of Innovation and Partnership Department of ITU.
Dr Kim briefed the minister on upcoming programmes of ITU including the Young Innovators Programme.
Dr Kim asked the minister to consider active participation of Pakistan in forthcoming ITU events.
Anusha Rahman participated in panel on a high-level dialogue on “Empowering women to innovate through technology”.
The minister said with the expansion of ICT infrastructure and advances in applications, provisioning of quality services, education, employment opportunities and women empowerment is likely to be witnessed.
The government of Pakistan is already working for woman empowerment and removal of gender disparity in area of ICT through different initiatives.
Pakistan Permanent Representative to United Nations at Geneva also called on minister and briefed her about activities carried out by Pakistan Mission, particularly relating to ITU.
The minister appreciated work of the Mission in maintaining an effective relationship with ITU and urged the need of active representation in ITU as Pakistan is now a council member.
