While chairing a meeting on President’s Initiative for Cyber Efficient Parliament (PICEP), at the Parliament House on Wednesday, President Dr Arif Alvi asked the relevant stakeholders to implement the digitalization process of Parliament by January 2023.
According to Alvi, a cyber efficient Parliament would prove to be a milestone in improving government efficiency, transparency and responsiveness.
Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, Minister for Information Technology and Telecom (MoIT&T), Syed Aminul Haque, Secretary MoIT&T, Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, and secretaries of Senate and National Assembly participated in the meeting.
The meeting was also briefed about the implementation plan of Cyber Efficient Parliament by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom. The ministry informed that PC-I of the project had been prepared which would be sent to the competent forum, after completing the necessary formalities, for allocation of funds for financial year 2021-2022.
The President emphasized the need to meet the timelines with regard to the implementation of the Cyber Efficient Parliament project. He advised all stakeholders to work in unison for early completion of this important project.
He commended the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom for timely designing the PC-I of the Digital Parliament.
The Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjarani and Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser lauded the initiative of the President and said that the project once fully implemented would manifold enhance the efficiency of the Parliament.
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Internet is having a massive social impact in Pakistan, and therefore there is a need to bring in digital change and transformation for the Parliament as well. Technology is a huge enabler and Pakistan has finally decided to embrace it. Therefore, the government is now working on digitalization of the Parliament with the help of technology to ensure efficient secretariat and committee management as well as decision-making.
“It is essential to incorporate information technology into both houses of parliament that would enhance its efficiency and help establish effective monitoring and control system over legislative business,” Alvi had said earlier.
IT Minister Aminul Haque had also stated that the use of E-office would not only improve the performance of the government departments but also ensure transparency in public services.