Karachi, 22 April 2022 (TDI): President of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi congratulated UIT and its team on developing Pakistan’s first open-source RISC-V microprocessor.
He said that Pakistan needs more graduates in the IT field, both in terms of quantity and quality, because the world requires more of these professionals.
“In the field of cybersecurity alone, around 80 million workers are needed by 2030.”
President Dr. Arif Alvi
Complete Speech 👇https://t.co/NLpDrnEd43 pic.twitter.com/IogkcyhA0n
— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) April 21, 2022
On Saturday, the President spoke at an event at UIT University called “Celebrating Pakistan’s First Open Source RISC –V Microprocessor Designed at UIT University.”
According to him, chip production would be worth 1.3 trillion dollars by 2030, and the IT sector will be a multibillion-dollar business in the near future, requiring more than 80 million graduates.
That is to say, more graduates should be produced, and the government and commercial institutions should focus on this area. He added that Pakistan is considering establishing a quantum lab.
President Alvi praised some government universities, saying that the Virtual University and Quaid-e-Azam University were doing an outstanding job in the field by producing graduates and that they were also holding online classes for short courses to meet increased demand.
“Knowledge should be open source all around the world, and I’ve always maintained that it’s vital to make it open source for the advancement of education,” he stated.
In addition, the government has decreased taxes on this sector to encourage institutions, and he added, “We will continue to provide all forms of support for the IT sector.”
He stated that during the former Prime Minister, Imran Khan’s recent visit to China, he did not seek any other assistance, but rather for the expansion of partnerships in various sectors such as textiles, IT, and other industries on a win-win basis.
As a country with a population of 22 million people, Pakistan has vastly cheaper human resources than other countries, according to the President.
People should not leave Pakistan because the country requires each individual’s contribution to its success, but the government should also provide possibilities for them, he stated.
He praised UIT University’s work, saying, “They have done a terrific job in filling the large vacuum in the IT industry by producing Pakistan’s first open-source risk-based microprocessor.”
