ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja has encouraged Huawei to explore establishing a research and development (R&D) centre in Pakistan as part of efforts to expand technology investment, knowledge transfer and skilled employment in the country.
The minister made the remarks during a visit to Huawei’s Global Service Centre (GSC) in Islamabad, where she received a briefing on its operations, toured the facility and interacted with Pakistani engineers and technology professionals supporting Huawei’s global ICT operations.
She was received by Ethan Sun, CEO Huawei Pakistan, Ahmed Bilal Masud, CEO AI & Cloud, Huawei Pakistan, and senior management of the GSC.
Shaza Fatima said Huawei’s Global Service Centre demonstrated Pakistan’s potential to emerge as a global hub for technology and IT-enabled services. She described the model as “exports without shipping containers”, noting that Pakistani professionals were increasingly delivering high-value digital services to international markets from within the country.
The minister highlighted Pakistan’s young population, with around 68 per cent of the population under the age of 30, and stressed the need to convert this demographic advantage into skilled human capital and sustainable economic opportunities.
Referring to Huawei’s training partnership agreed during the prime minister’s visit to China, she appreciated the company’s commitment to training 300,000 young Pakistanis in ICT skills. She called for stronger cooperation among the government, industry and academia to develop a sustainable technology talent pipeline and connect Pakistani professionals with international opportunities.
Shaza Fatima also appreciated Huawei’s contribution to technical capacity building through its ICT Academies and encouraged the company to expand investment, knowledge transfer and mentoring initiatives in Pakistan, while exploring opportunities to establish an R&D centre in the country.
During her interaction with women engineers at the facility, the minister acknowledged their contribution to Pakistan’s digital economy and stressed the importance of creating greater opportunities for women in the technology sector.
Ethan Sun said Huawei was proud to contribute to Pakistan’s digital development by strengthening local technical expertise and creating opportunities for Pakistani professionals to participate in the global digital economy.
Huawei’s Global Service Centre in Islamabad serves as a hub for international technology operations, providing remote technical support, network operations, service assurance and other advanced ICT services to customers worldwide.
