By Mehtab Haider
ISLAMABAD: The World Economic Forum Global Information Technology Report 2008 has ranked Pakistan at 89th position, out of 127 countries, in terms of preparedness to effectively promote business, improve investment climate and develop infrastructure.The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), a partner institute of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Pakistan, released the report on Wednesday.This year’s ranking shows a five-point decline for Pakistan from last year when it was ranked 84th out of 122 countries.Although telecoms operators are aggressively upgrading their networks’ infrastructure to launch broadband data and multimedia services, Pakistan still ranks low in terms of the cost of broadband and security of Internet servers. Furthermore, the number of days and procedures required to enforce a contract in Pakistan is also a key challenge in achieving a sustainable impact. The decline is a result of a weakened political and regulatory environment and infrastructure environment, which refers to network facilities, network capacity and capabilities.Published for the seventh consecutive year, the Global Information Technology Report is the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of information and communications technologies on the nations’ development and competitiveness.“It is evident that technology is playing a leading role in accelerating economic growth and promoting development,” said CSF Chief Executive Officer Arthur Bayhan.“A coherent government vision on information and communications technologies, coupled with an early focus on education and innovation, is the key to spur network readiness and to lay the foundations for sustainable growth.”The support for CSF is part of the $1.5 billion in aid that the US government is providing, through USAID, to Pakistan over five years to improve economic growth, education, health, governance and earthquake reconstruction.
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