FAISALABAD: Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) President Dr. Khurram Tariq said on Wednesday that modern info-tech (IT) eco system would be provided to produce highly skilled manpower in this field, in addition to facilitating young start-ups to undertake their own individual or collective businesses.
During his visit to the Business Incubation School (BIS) of the National Textile University (NTU), he said that IT had opened new avenues for future development and in this connection, developed countries were already working to exploit the full potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Dr Khurram Tariq said this paradigm shift would not only eliminate thousands of job opportunities in the traditional fields but also create millions of new jobs prospects for the IT experts. He said that we must prepare ourselves to avail from these emerging chances by preparing IT experts in the relevant fields.
He said that Mohammad Bin Sulman of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is implementing an ambitious programme to introduce IT related projects in all fields of life during 2030. He said that at least 20,000 job opportunities are waiting for Pakistani IT experts and we must prepare ourselves to produce experts in these fields. He said that Pakistan is a blessed country with more than 40pc population of youth and we must utilise it to transform Pakistan into a hub of IT.
Dr Khurram Tariq further said “we should focus on producing highly skilled workers instead of creating low paid freelancers”. He said that the NTU should play its dynamic role by synchronising its BIS with the emerging demand at the local as well as at the global level. He said that organisations concerned must conduct a fair survey to identify the potential of different sectors in which human resource is deficient.
He said that the FCCI and BIS must collaborate to identify the courses so that passed out students could be absorbed in local industry or get jobs in the international job markets. He said that IT is the most suitable field for females as they could work from their home and earn precious foreign exchange for the country. He said that IT should not be considered only to earn foreign remittances but it should also be utilized to eliminate unemployment and bridging gender parity.
Dr. Khurram Tariq said that FCCI is ready to collaborate with BIS and he would once again pay a visit to finalize a workable and collaborative strategy to ensure provision of a proper eco system for the development of IT.