SOHAIL IQBAL BHATTI
ISLAMABAD: Federal cabinet, through circulation of summary, has approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Saudi Arabia for the promotion of information technology.it was learnt on Monday.
Earlier, Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, the state agency of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), responsible for KSA’s foreign cooperation in the ICT sector, desired to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) Pakistan.
The objective of this MoU was to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the filed of ICT, to accelerate digital transformation, empower digital innovation and advance digital infrastructure on the basis of equity and mutual benefit.
Both the countries identified fields of common interest for strengthening cooperation in the areas of the digital economy, connectivity, business match-making, ICT capacity building, academia, startup ecosystem, venture capital, incubators, e-governance, smart infrastructure , e-health, e-education, research and digital innovations, and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robotics, cloud computing, gaming and blockchain.
In accordance with section 16 (1) (h) of the rules of Business 1973, necessary codal formalities have been completed as follows;
- Terms of the MoU were negotiated and mutually agreed upon by the two ministries.
- MCIT KSA has obtained approval of the draft MoU from their concerned authority.
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs has provided “No Objection Certificate” for signing this MoU with KSA.
- Ministry of Law & Justice (MoL&J) proposed few changes in the draft MoU.
- MoITT approached MCIT for consideration of new draft of MoU with changes proposed by MoI&J. However, as MCIT had already got approval from their concerned authority, therefore, MCIT requested MoITT to consider the same draft of MoU for approval from Pakistani side.
- MoITT again approached MoI&J to seek approval of original draft of MoU. MoI&J responded that “The changes to the draft MoU made by this Division are reiterated. If the referring Ministry desires to proceed as per proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it may do so at its own end”.
- MoITT considers amendments suggested by MoI&J as cosmetic in nature and proposes approval of the draft MoU already approved by KSA authorities, instead of negotiating the above referred minor changes with MCIT.
In accordance with section 16 (1) (h) of the rules of Business 1973, the draft MoU was placed before the cabinet for kind approval before the signing of the same by the concerned parties.
The Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication has seen and authorized submission of this summary to the cabinet.
