LAHORE: The Pakistan China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) has proposed transforming the country’s industrial economy into a digital economy, drawing inspiration from China’s model, which has proven highly effective.
During a PCJCCI think tank meeting on Monday, PCJCCI President Nazir Hussain pointed to the need to establish integrated computing network hubs across Pakistan to drive the digital economy forward and provide new momentum for sectoral growth.
Hussain explained that data centre computing equipment would be crucial for developing advanced technologies and industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and blockchain. These resources, he said, would fuel digital transformation and foster high-quality development. He cited China’s establishment of national hubs in regions like Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Chengdu-Chongqing, Guizhou, and Inner Mongolia, suggesting a similar approach in Pakistan’s major business hubs, including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Hyderabad and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Senior Vice President Mansoor Saeed Sheikh noted that a national computing network would facilitate the smooth flow of data and economic circulation, with computing hubs acting as new growth drivers and supporting Pakistan’s big data strategy. He highlighted China’s ongoing efforts to construct national computing network hubs as part of its “new infrastructure” initiative, which aims to support green, high-quality digital development. Sheikh suggested that Pakistan could adopt this approach to develop large-scale data centres and clusters in key regions to support sectors such as industrial internet, financial services, disaster warning, telemedicine and communications.
Vice President of the PCJCCI Zafar Iqbal added that this transformation would balance data centre capacity across eastern and western regions, stimulate innovation in big data applications, improve the efficiency of computing resources, and support sustainable, high-quality development.
The PCJCCI observed that the big data industry would be a key force in transitioning from an industrial to a digital economy. The initiative could accelerate the expansion of 5G networks and fibre optic infrastructure, creating a robust intelligent ecosystem across Pakistan.
