Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that Arfa Software Technology Park reflects the Pak-China friendship and it will prove to be the hub of information technology activities.
He said the tallest building of the province had been named after the youngest IT expert Arfa Karim and no other name could be better for the building. He said Arfa Karim won laurels for the country and made the nation proud and she would always be remembered.
He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Arfa Software Technology Park constructed with the cooperation of China here on Thursday.
Shahbaz said the Punjab government had taken revolutionary steps for promotion of information technology. He said the software technology park would prove to be a milestone in IT promotion and a campus of the Information Technology University of international standard would also be set up there within next few months.
The CM said thousands of students from Attock to Rahimyar Khan were benefiting from new inventions and modern knowledge through IT labs set up in more than 4,000 schools of the province at a cost of Rs 5 billion. He said the project of distribution of 120,000 laptops would help produce IT scholars and they would carve out a prosperous future for the country.
The chief minister said metro system was being launched with the cooperation of Chinese company Norenko whereas the work on first Bus Rapid Transit System in the history of the country had started with the cooperation of Turkey. He said that Pak-China friendship was strong and the IT tower was its proof. He said the Punjab government was jointly working with Microsoft for setting up e-government and promotion of information technology and cooperation was also being sought from other companies for the promotion of IT in the province.
He lauded Chairman Planning and Development Javed Aslam, Chairman Information Technology Board Dr Umar Saif, former Chairman Information Technology Board Dr. Javed Ghani, engineers of China State Construction Engineering Corporation and the entire team made for the completion of the Arfa Software Technology Park.
Father of Arfa Karim, Col (r) Amjad Karim Randhawa and head of China State Construction Engineering Corporation Madam Li Hau and Commercial Consular of China also addressed the function.