Islamabad: - Pakistan Software Export Board organized networking sessions from 4th - 11th November, 2007 in Dublin, Ireland. The sessions comprising of receptions and business networking meetings with leading Irish companies were held in collaboration with the Embassy of Pakistan in Dublin, Ireland Pakistan Business Council (IPBC), South Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Irish IT Industry and various other local partners.

PSEB sponsored 10 leading IT companies to attend the events. During the visit, PSEB officials and delegates from participating IT companies met with the officials of South Dublin Chamber of Commerce and the Irish state development agency ‘Enterprise Ireland’. The delegation attended networking sessions hosted by the Ireland Pakistan Business Council and the IT Association of Galway.

The PSEB delegation also met with the Pakistan Ambassador to Ireland, H.E Mrs. Naghmana Hashmi and the Trade Minister Mrs. Zehra Akbari whose efforts in organising the Dublin Networking Events were instrumental.

Another highlight of the visit was the delegation’s attendance to the Irish Software Association’s Awards. About 250 guests from the Irish IT industry were present at the occasion. The ceremony proved to be a valuable networking opportunity for the delegation.

The member companies had numerous opportunities to market their products and services in Dublin that were beneficial to the IT sector of both the countries and would eventually contribute to the IT exports of Pakistan.

The event was a major success as Pakistani companies made great inroads with numerous companies and trade facilitation bodies of Ireland. Six major Companies Softech Systems, MSoft, Efrotech, Esolpk, Invaterra and Alp Business Service Management made major contacts with the Irish IT companies and are in process of signing up projects in areas of capital market, payment services for telecom and entertainment industry, web development and technical capability sets to manage outsourced testing process.

PSEB is a Government agency mandated to promote Pakistan’s IT Industry including software, services, hardware and call centres locally and globally. It has been facilitating the IT industry through its programs in Human Capital, Office Space, Marketing, Company Capability Development, Telecom Bandwidth, Industry Finance, Public Policy, Strategy & Research, and Facilitation. The IT industry of Pakistan is currently valued over USD 2.8 billion with an IT workforce of 110,000, growing at almost 20,000 a year. There are more than 125 ISO certified and CMMI rated IT firms in Pakistan.