President urges businessmen to use IT to promote business

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday said that considering the fast changing trends, the businessmen in Pakistan should tilt from traditional trading methods towards the use of artificial intelligence for earning more revenue and get global outreach.

Addressing the distribution ceremony of 7th FPCCI Achievement Awards here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president said by using the technology, the goods could be sold out across the world without being subject to the use of transport or space.

The event was attended by Minister for Privatisation Mohammed Mian Soomro, provincial ministers, parliamentarians, diplomats and renowned businessmen from across the country.

The president distributed awards among the businessmen who had showed excellence in businesses and social services throughout the year. He also conferred gold medals on prominent personalities including scientist Dr Attaur Rehman and former ambassador Riaz Khokhar, besides others for spending excellent career in their respective fields.

Calling for the efforts to uplift the software industry, he said the President’s Initiative on Artificial Intelligence had been launched with the collaboration of some welfare organisations to provide opportunities to the youth to show their capabilities.

He told the audience that Indonesia had increased its software exports from $4 billion in 2016 to $16 billion in 2018 with a target to touch $100 billion mark by 2023. However, Pakistan’s exports in the sector stood at just $3 billion.

The president urged the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other chambers to create a link between the client and the manufacturers through the use of technology, following the models of e-commerce giants Alibaba and Amazon.