Islamabad: April 02, 2021
Federal Secretary Ministry of IT and Telecommunication Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui presided over signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Telecom Foundation (TF) and Social Protection Resource Centre (SPRC) on Friday for providing social inclusion for the disabled sections of the society, especially the children, through technology and ICT based solutions. Speaking on the occasion, Federal Secretary Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui said the present government was facilitating the IT industry through numerous digitization projects, research and innovation, software technology parks, subsidized bandwidth, international marketing, international certifications, internships and trainings and that it had a holistic strategy for fulfilment of the sustainable development goals of the United Nations and make Pakistan green and healthy. This initiative by the Telecom Foundation and SPRC was directly in line with the vision of the government and the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication in fulfillment of a digital and welfare based Pakistan. The privileges of a healthy life should be passed on to the disabled children of our society and they should get an equal right to living a respectable and educated life. The Secretary IT appreciated the efforts of the new Telecom Foundation’s management over the past 18 months in reviving it and reassured Ministry’s continued support to the Foundation in its initiatives in digital social welfare expansion. The President & CEO of Telecom Foundation Syed Zomma Mohiuddin said that this initiative was part of the many steps taken by the Foundation for the first time in its 30 year history, with the support of the MoITT, over the past year and a half to enable it to fully contribute to the under privileged sections of the society, as well as the SDGs, through ICT and digital solutions. On the occasion the CEO of SPRC, Dr Aaliya Khan stated as a premier think tank dedicated to promoting the universalization of social protection in Pakistan, the SPRC was pleased to partner Telecom Foundation in enabling the social inclusion of the under privileged and particularly disabled section of the society through state of the art ICT and technology based solutions that will have long term positive repercussions on the way this section of the society is catered for in Pakistan. Senior officials of the MoITT, Telecom Foundation and SPRC were present on the occasion that concluded with the signing of the MoU between the heads of the two organizations.