ISLAMABAD, July 24 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir on Friday inaugurated Pakistan’s largest data centre and AI cloud, Sky 47 Karakoram One.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, the Prime Minister said the Sky 47 project was a highly important development for a dynamic, progressive and bright future. He said the project was a guarantee for Pakistan’s future and would provide the country with unbreachable security.
Federal ministers and others also attended the ceremony. Earlier, the Prime Minister and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir were briefed about the data centre.
The Prime Minister said it was an honour for him to attend the inaugural ceremony of Sky 47 Data Centre Karakoram One. He described the state-of-the-art data centre as highly impressive and commendable, adding that he was pleased to witness a great project completed in a very short period with extraordinary resolve, firm belief and high professional skill.
Shehbaz Sharif said if the country followed this model, it would not only be able to make up for past losses but also build a highly dynamic and developed Pakistan for the future, which was the need of the hour. He said the task was difficult but not impossible, as Pakistan had achieved great success in Marka-i-Haq, which he termed a great moment in the country’s history.
The Prime Minister said everything became possible when human resolve was firm. He said challenges and difficulties did arise, but when they were faced with hope, courage and energy, historic achievements like Marka-i-Haq were made.
He said great projects like Sky 47 were a guarantee for Pakistan’s future. He paid tribute to the visionary leadership of Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, partner ZTE, the federal minister for information technology and the secretary information technology for their full support.
The Prime Minister thanked all stakeholders for giving the nation a project like Sky 47, saying continuous hard work turned such major projects into reality. He said similar projects would also be completed in Karachi and Lahore and all government institutions should be connected with this facility.
Shehbaz Sharif said the project was an excellent gift for the people of Pakistan and would provide unbreachable security. He said the project gave hope and courage that if the nation worked together, no target was unachievable.
Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja said the inauguration of the Sky 47 Data Centre marked the beginning of a new era of artificial intelligence in Pakistan.
She said doors to a new economic era were opening and Pakistan would be able to fully benefit from its resources and manpower. She said insight derived from data was the real economic power of the future, adding that the global race in artificial intelligence would depend on secure, low-cost and effective use.
The minister said future competition in the field of artificial intelligence would be based on the effective use of data. She said Sky 47 would provide modern storage, GPUs and high-performance computing systems.
Sky 47 CEO Hassan Abbas said there were 12,000 data centres in the world, while Pakistan had only 22 data centres and its digital capacity was very high. He said the country’s e-commerce business was growing at an annual rate of 25 to 30 per cent, adding that the data centre was laying a strong foundation in the digital sector.
Sky 47 Data Centre is described as an important step towards self-reliance in the field of technology. The data centre has the capacity to meet the requirements of artificial intelligence, machine learning and high-performance computing. It will provide a strong foundation for cloud computing, data hosting and digital services, and serve as an important means of protecting sensitive national and commercial information.
