Prime?Minister Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated the Online Temporary Mobile Phone Registration System on Tuesday. In this way, the overseas Pakistani including students, employees and foreign nationals, visiting Pakistan for tourism or business purposes can take the benefit.
This system will allow them to register and utilize their personal mobile phones for up to 120 days from the date of their arrival without any duties and taxes.
Addressing the ceremony, the Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of youth in the field of Information Technology. He said that there are a lot of opportunities in this sector and we should not let them waste. He added that the government had allocated sufficient funds in the current budget for the youth.
The Prime Minister informed that Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) has been constituted in Pakistan to attract foreign investment and revive the countrys economy and the role of the ministry of information technology (IT) is vital here.
Shahbaz Sharif emphasized the need to promote IT parks in the country to increase IT exports. He said that free laptops were distributed among bright students on merit. IT is the sector which can play extremely vital role in earning foreign exchange reserves.
The IT exports of neighboring country India were worth more than $40 billion in the last fiscal year and the capabilities of Pakistani students are not less in this field. Unfortunately, no government in past took any appropriate measures to promote IT sector.
In 2018, the government had introduced a Mobile Phone tax Policy to allow overseas Pakistani to brig one phone without paying customs duty.
The overseas Pakistanis could use their imported phone with one SIM for a 60-day- period. After this period, the phone could not be used unless the due amount of taxes for regularization of the phone is paid.