Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) aims to improve governance through digital interventions and formally develop its growing Digital Transformation portfolio.
To expand this agenda, a UNDP delegation met Imran Khan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Pakistan to discuss future collaboration on Digital Transformation between the Government of Pakistan and UNDP.
Mr. Tariq Malik, Chief Technical Advisor on Digital Governance from UNDP’s Headquarters in New York and former chairman of NADRA, is leading the mission to create the first formal and strategic portfolio on Digital Transformation. Accompanying him was Ms. Aliona Niculita, UNDP Pakistan Resident Representative.
During the meeting, UNDP discussed five priority digital interventions with the Prime Minister which emerged after briefings with 15 government Ministries, departments, agencies and over 50 key stakeholders from the government, private sector and the development community.
These priority interventions include supporting NADRA’s digital registration; development of Digital ID stack to extend the digital infrastructure of Pakistan which includes digital payments system and more; supporting Ehsaas’s introduction of a One-Window Portal for integrated social protection services; digitization of Police Investigation Manual and establishing a national emergency help line with National Police Bureau; and development of Pakistan Business Portal (PBP), with the Board of Investment, an online platform for ease of doing business within the country. UNDP is also conducting a digital maturity assessment in parallel to prioritize digital interventions using read data driven approach.
The Prime Minister appreciated UNDP’s partnership in development of a digital transformation roadmap for the country. He reiterated the importance of digital solutions for improved governance and that Pakistan is committed to using digital technologies for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will, he added, help the vulnerable sections of the society, in particular.
