Friday, January 16, 2004

Sun Microsystems Keen To Invest In Pak's IT Sector

Sun Microsystems Keen To Invest In Pak's IT Sector
Updated on 2004-01-15 16:18:09

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Jan 15 (PNS) - World's second largest IT firm, Sun Microsystems Wednesday showed keen interest to invest in IT sector, especially the e-government programme, in the backdrop of a booming economy and easily-available skilled workforce in Pakistan.

The interest was showed by a delegation led by Philip Roy, Regional Sales Manager of the Company in Gulf, Pakistan and Afghanistan which called on Minister for Information Technology, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari here to explore ways to launch joint ventures in IT sector in Pakistan.

"We see Pakistan as a potential market and are open to enter into any partnership with the private and public sector organizations to bring about the fruits of IT to the common people," Philip Roy told.

He said his company had been able to develop a broad range of services and open source solutions that could ideally fit in the Pakistani environment.

Mr. Roy said his company was also willing to support the research and development programme in Pakistani universities as part of its R&D fund that was given $ 2 billion annually out of the Company's $ 12 billion turnover every year. He said his company believed in dedication and commitment to excellence and these virtues could also be learnt by Pakistani professionals as they would team up with the 35,000 strong workforce of the Sun Microsystems in any prospective mutual partnerships.

The Sales Manager of the Company said his company would offer its Pakistani counterparts a platform to exhibit their talent and skills and then penetrate the international market along with their products produced locally in Pakistan.

Appreciating the Company's interest to invest in Pakistan, Awais Leghari highlighted the government efforts to promote the IT and telecom sectors, with particular focus on the launching of e-government programme in the public sector. He said the government was actively encouraging private-public partnerships and there were plenty of opportunities for the Sun Microsystems to benefit from the incentives and opportunities Pakistan offered.

Awais said his ministry was also ready to provide any help or resources to companies and individuals seeking to use IT as an enabler to improve efficiency in public services. "We are willing to finance any such project " however we want that the end product should involve applications produced mostly by the local software industry and it should be open-source software accessible to any other company or individual in the country," he added.


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