Observer Reporter
Davos
President of Asian Development Bank Masatsugu Asakawa called on Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of WEF Annual Meeting 2020 at Davos.
Advisor on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Governor State Bank of Pakistan Raza Baqir, Ambassador at large on investments Ali Jehangir Siddiqui were also present.
Meanwhile, Advisor on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, while talking to media alongwith President of Asian Development Bank Masatsugu Asakawa, expressed gratitude to the ADB over adopting special financing tools to support Pakistan. He said this is an excellent partnership and they have contributed in a significant way in turnaround in our economy. He said we look forward to further strengthen the partnership with ADB.
Speaking on the occasion, the President of ADB said Pakistan and ADB have very cordial relations for years. He said Pakistan has been very good partner for ADB for more than fifty years.
He said we have decided to support the Pakistan’s reform agenda as much as possible including monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxation issues and Ehsaas program. Prime Minister Imran Khan also invited SAP (System, Applications and Product) , a software solution company of international acclaim, to support ‘Digital Pakistan’ initiative in skills development and training of youth in collaboration with major universities.
In a meeting with Chief Executive Officer SAP Christian Klein on the sidelines of World Economic Forum at the Swiss resort Davos, the prime minister expressed desire for establishing SAP laboratories in Pakistan for promotion of software engineering, a PM Office statement said issued here.
SAP (System, Applications and Product) is one of the world’s largest enterprise software companies, known for their Enterprise Resource Planning Software with a significant footprint in the public and private sector of Pakistan. Imran Khan said his government was utilizing digital applications for governance including citizen’s complaint redressal, for procedural efficiency at public offices and for improving ease-of-doing-business.
Christian Klein apprised the Prime Minister that SAP had a long association with Pakistan since last 20 years with its most significant project the digital system for administering salaries and pensions of the Government of Pakistan.
He appreciated Pakistan’s focus on digitization of governance and economic sectors and e expressed SAP’s commitment to train young software engineers in Germany and using them for software development in Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan also met CEO of YouTube Susan Wojcicki on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Special Assistant to the PM Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari and Ambassador-at large on Foreign Investments Ali Jehangir Siddiqui were also present during the meeting.
Tania Aidrus, the head of the PM’s Digital Pakistan Vision campaign, who was also in attendance in the meeting, said: “We talked about supporting the thriving contents creator community in Pakistan and how we need to work together to promote responsible digital journalism.” Earlier, Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens called on Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of WEF Annual Meeting 2020 in Davos.
