The Ministry of IT, under the project entitled ‘National IT Development and Promotion Unit’ known as NIDU, called an urgent meeting on September 1, 2008 to review and reformulate the IT Policy and the way forward for the industry, for the next 5 years. Attended by some 50 professionals from across the country, the purpose of the discussion was to work towards a consultative process to formulate the next IT Policy.
Some of the suggestions put forward to a platform that is trying to shape the future of Pakistan’s IT industry included research into the various verticals to help better identify opportunities, highlight focus areas that may have been previously undermined and identify flaws or problems with the existing policy.
While the initiative to reach out to the industry, on the part of the Ministry is a good one, considering that some of the decisions seemed to be more impulsive than well planned; having access to limited or no funding to provide any facilitation for recommended tasks, makes the prioritization of the sector with respect to other industries highly questionable.
While the Ministry of IT and Project NIDU have great intentions, perhaps a long term strategy needs to be instilled into the framework of the Government so as to allow the industry to flourish as rapidly as it has the potential of doing so.
Thus far, there have been 3 working groups established: IT Policy, Content Development and E-Commerce (as listed on the website) with several other working groups in the process of being set up.
You can find more details from the NIDU website
