The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, in collaboration with the International Trade Centre, convened an IT sector consultation in Lahore as part of the ITC’s Export Competitiveness Mapping Exercise. The exercise seeks to identify key constraints to export growth, assess the needs and capabilities of firms and service providers, and identify practical interventions to strengthen enterprise competitiveness and Pakistan’s wider export support ecosystem, positioning the Lahore session as one input into a broader, more structured mapping process rather than a standalone consultation.
With support from the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Pakistan Software Houses Association, the consultation brought together representative voices from across Pakistan’s technology industry. Participants included Systems Limited, Contour Software, Devsinc, Viper Technologies, Xavor, GameStorm, 10x Engineers, Vaival Technologies, DigiTrends, ABFA Technologies, Sourcegate Technologies, and Co-Wire, alongside representatives of Pakistan Software Houses Association, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Punjab Information Technology Board, National Incubation Centres, startups, freelancers, cybersecurity specialists, semiconductor companies, and other industry stakeholders, giving the session a fairly comprehensive cross section of the country’s IT and IT enabled services ecosystem.
The consultation focused on six areas with a direct bearing on firms’ ability to compete internationally, covering international compliance and standards, localization and supply chains where relevant, export market entry and strategy, operational productivity, policy engagement through industry bodies, and access to finance. This structure reflects an attempt to move beyond generic complaints about the operating environment toward a more systematic identification of the specific barriers holding back different segments of the industry, from smaller freelancers and startups to established software exporters. Within IT and IT enabled services specifically, the International Trade Centre exercise covers software services and cybersecurity, narrowing its scope to two subsectors considered particularly relevant to Pakistan’s near term export potential.
The engagement forms part of a broader export competitiveness mapping process intended to capture industry perspectives beyond individual firms, identify capability and ecosystem gaps affecting exporters, and determine where targeted trade and export support interventions can have the greatest impact. Officials said the insights emerging from these engagements will help inform evidence based export development interventions and stronger pathways to international markets, complementing the work of relevant sectoral institutions and industry bodies already active in this space, including Pakistan Software Export Board’s ongoing National IT Industry Census and ongoing capacity building programs. Through public private dialogue and collaboration with international development partners, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan said it remains focused on its trade promotion mandate of enabling Pakistani technology exporters to access, compete, and scale in international markets, describing the TDAP-ITC collaboration as an effort to strengthen the competitiveness of export oriented sectors and identify practical interventions for the country’s broader export support ecosystem.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
