Led by Nasruminallah MIAN, Senior Programs Officer and Lead on the Digital Sector at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a delegation from the ADB and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) visited OICCI to have a consultative session with the Chamber’s leadership and the members of the OICCI IT Subcommittee.

The delegation, including Dr. Jordanka Tomkova, PhD, Senior Consultant of Digital Sector Diagnostics at SDPI, 𝗔𝘀𝗮𝗱 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗺, Deputy Country Director of ADB, 𝗞𝗵𝗮𝘆𝘆𝗮𝗺 𝗦𝗼𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗔𝗯𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗶, Technical Assistance Consultant of ADB, Saeed Chaudhry (Muhammad Saeed Ahmed Chaudhry), Lead Implementation Coordinator of ADB, and Ahad Nazir, Head Centre for Private Sector Engagement of SDPI, was welcomed by M Abdul Aleem, CE/Secretary General of OICCI, along with Kashif Shafi, Executive Director of OICCI, and OICCI IT Subcommittee members, including Hasan Sandila (Jazz), Adeel Munir (SCB), Sajid Banday (DataSuil), and Taimur Malik (SAP).

The ADB, in partnership with SDPI, is working on identifying the barriers that hinder the growth of digitization in Pakistan. During the session, the Chamber apprised the delegation of how digitization can offer Pakistan a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to turn around the economy within years. As the OICCI Digital Report 2022 notes, government departments work in silos, and therefore there is a need for institutional harmonization and effective implementation to reap the benefits.

Concluding the discussion, 𝗠𝗿. 𝗠𝗶𝗮𝗻 thanked 𝗠 𝗔𝗯𝗱𝘂𝗹 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗺 and OICCI members for their valuable input and expressed hope for continued such interactions in the future.