Aitizaz Hassan ISLAMABAD, June 02 (INP-WealthPk): Investment in Pakistani startups will be nearly $600 million this calendar year, forecasts Ignite. Talking to WealthPK, spokesperson for the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) said at least five more national incubation centers (NICs) will be launched in new cities of Pakistan under the Ignite program. He said investments by the Pakistani startups had grown by almost 5 times over 2020. Through Ignite, the ministry has been providing both local and international networking platforms to the startups to pitch their business ideas and products to potential customers and investors, the spokesperson said. He added that the role of technology in the government’s mission was in the right direction to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Pakistan. He said the ministry had taken many steps to boost the information communication technology (ICT) exports and investment in Pakistan. The exports exceeded $2.1 billion last year and the target for this year is $3 billion. The spokesperson said the NICs in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta had helped the youth to work and build on ideas which not only promoted and encouraged the investment infrastructure in Pakistan, but also accelerated the economy. These NICs are a platform for the youth and we are the facilitators, he added. “The newly established incubation centers of Hyderabad and Faisalabad will help us expand and tap into the potential of Sindh and Punjab; we wish to provide our youth with an opportunity to bring their ideas into reality,” he added. In a recent statement, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Amin ul Haq said if the ICT sector had got importance in the past, the ICT exports would have been more than $20 billion annually today. He said the government had taken measures to train freelancers, promote startups and facilitate the ICT industry, which resulted in a 47% increase in the ICT exports in two years. Amin said there were more than 1.2 million freelancers providing digital services to their clients worldwide, individually and collectively. He said according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data, ICT exports till April 30, 2022, were $2.18 billion, but presently if these freelancers and small IT companies earning foreign exchange in various ways were included, the volume of ICT exports will be $5 billion. Amin said the launch of the sixth NIC for the youth of Hyderabad was a gift from the MoITT through which the youth could earn a decent job while making their future bright and secure. He further said the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), SBP and commercial banks did not have the required information about the ICT industry and freelancers, so freelancers faced some issues other than opening bank accounts. These issues were given priority, he added. “Steps are being taken to resolve the groundwork. Hopefully, by June 2023, we will have surpassed the target of $5 billion for ICT exports”, said the minister.