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Add to: JJ stresses

need to raise computer literacy

APP Adds: Javed Jabbar called for the usage of information and communication technology for the promotion of peace in South Asia.

Referring to a meagre two percent intra-regional trade, he said e-commerce and e-business can be used for increase in the trade activity in the Saarc region.

Jabbar said that the government is committed to information and communication advancement in the country which is manifest from its decision to put in place an Information Technology Division.

"We have to massify our technological base, we have to use indigenous capacity for advancement in the fields of information and communication.

The adviser, citing the extraordinary power of the internet, said the world has been confined as never before and the challenge facing the world is to strike a convergence between the information technology and the media.

However, he regretted that Pakistan, which ranks seventh in the world in terms of population, comes lower down the ladder at 134th place when it comes to nation's access to mass media.

Jabbar referred to Microsoft's plan to convert all TV sets in China into computers, he said, "We need to look at the potential of that kind of technology".

"The government role will be that of facilitator Ñ our first objective has to be made people computer literate Ñ to make our students computer literate Ñ we have to make it part of our lives Ñ the government officers should be carrying laptops instead of briefcases".

The adviser said there is a need for "emergency mass drive for computer literacy in the government departments in this world of information explosion".

Jabbar said that information and communication technology is women-friendly, noting that an increasing number of Pakistani women is taking part in the banking and medicine sectors. "It liberates women from toils of centuries", he said.

Jabbar took exception to Pakistan Computer Bureau's non-representation at the workshop.

Welcoming the participants from Saarc countries, he said seminars and workshops are useful productive and interactive events.