LAHORE: Pakistan China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) President Mr. Wang Zihai on Wednesday suggested to transform industrial economy of Pakistan to digital economy as per Chinese model that had proved to be the best practice in this regard.
During a discussion on digitalization of national economy here at PCJCCI think-tank meeting, he said, “We should set up integrated computing network hubs across the country to boost the digital economy and provide new impetus for the sector’s development.”
The meeting was also attended by Ehsan Chaudhry, Senior Vice President PCJCCI, Sarfaraz Butt, Vice President, Salahuddin Hanif, Secretary General and the Executive Committee members.
Mr. Wang Zihai said that data center computing equipment would be key accelerators for the development of new technologies and industries such as artificial intelligence, big data and block chain, and help fuel digital transformation and high-quality development.
Under the plan, he added, China’s national hubs were being set up in key areas including Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Chengdu-Chongqing city cluster, Guizhou province and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
He suggested to replicate this model in major business cities of Pakistan including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Hyderabad and Gilgit-Baltistan.
On this occasion, SVP Ehsan Chaudhry said that national computing network would boost free flow of data and smoothen economic circulation. The hubs were also playing a key role as the new drivers of economic growth and supporting the national big data strategy. He said that China had planned to build national integrated computing network hubs as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to accelerate the “new infrastructure” construction and promote green, high-quality development of the digital economy. “We can also adopt this technique to boost the development of super-large and large-scale data centers and build data center clusters in key regions, supporting businesses such as industrial internet, financial securities, disaster warning, telemedicine and video calls, ” he said.
The VP Sarfaraz Butt said that new move would help achieve a structural balance between data centers in eastern and western regions, boost innovation in big data applications, improve efficiency in the use of computing resources and promote green, high-quality development.
The joint chamber’s Secretary Salahuddin Hanif said that big data industry would be a key driving force in the transition from an industrial economy to a digital economy. It would make a big push to continuously accelerate the development of 5G networks and 1, 000M fiber optic networks to create a new intelligent ecosystem, he added.