RIYADH, 28 April — Two Saudi companies, SCECO and SABIC, have established contacts with some notable Pakistani software producers and expressed their interest in using their software. This was disclosed by Arif Khosa, director, domestic business division of Pakistan Software Export Board at the end of Saudi GITEX 2002, the annual software exhibition which had attracted manufacturers from a number of European and Southeast Asian countries.
“Most of our software production is done in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad,” he said, adding that a sizable number of Pakistani exporters had their front ends in the US or Europe. He noted that in the public sector, his government had established two IT parks in Islamabad, in addition to one in Peshawar and another in Lahore while in the private sector four were coming up in Lahore besides three in Karachi. Mirpur and Quetta, too, were going to have one each, he said.
“The setting up of these centers has ensured high-speed Internet connectivity, 24-hour backup power and various round-the-clock operational facilities,” he stated.
Khosa also disclosed that, during the exhibition, a number of exhibitors and visitors from the UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, and Bahrain had also shown their interest in Pakistani software.
