Islamabad (GNP): Pakistan and Google have signed a memorandum of understanding under which Pakistani students will receive free one-year access to advanced artificial intelligence tools including Gemini, while the two sides work together to establish an AI Centre of Excellence in Islamabad, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
The agreement was signed during a reception hosted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in honour of the visiting Google team, and follows closely on the heels of Google opening its first office in Pakistan earlier in the week, a move the company said reflected confidence in the country’s digital future and talent pool.
Building on that momentum, the new MoU commits both sides to expanding Google’s Career Certificates programme across Pakistan, with a target of 150,000 certificates to be completed in 2026 as part of efforts to widen access to digital skills training.
Alongside the certificates initiative, Pakistani students will gain free one-year access to Google AI Plus and Gemini, while the planned AI Centre of Excellence in Islamabad will focus on training young people and other human resources in skills aligned with global market requirements.
The agreement extends beyond education and training to cover cooperation aimed at strengthening the global competitiveness of Pakistan’s mobile application and gaming industries, along with efforts to promote digital payments and expand digital commerce nationwide.
Government operations are also part of the scope, with both sides agreeing to explore how artificial intelligence can improve public service delivery, including the use of AI-powered data analytics within the Federal Board of Revenue’s ongoing digitisation project.
The cooperation extends into agriculture as well, where Pakistan and Google plan to apply AI tools to crop monitoring, forecasting and sustainable farming practices, while digital platforms are expected to help Pakistani small and medium-sized enterprises reach international markets more easily.
To carry this work forward, a task force comprising government officials, Google representatives and other relevant stakeholders will be formed to prepare a roadmap for Pakistan’s IT exports and competitiveness, tasked with identifying obstacles to export growth and assessing new opportunities.
The Prime Minister’s Office described the agreement as a step toward Prime Minister Shehbaz’s target of raising Pakistan’s IT exports and digital economy to thirty billion dollars by 2030, stating that the cooperation between the government and Google would lay the foundation for a new era of digital transformation and innovation in the country.
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This marks the second agreement between Pakistan and Google within the same week. A day earlier, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Google signed a separate MoU focused on strengthening child online safety, under which both organisations agreed to collaborate on awareness, education and capacity-building initiatives.
That programme will equip parents and teachers with practical tools to help children navigate the digital world safely, and will include awareness content in English and local languages, training sessions in educational institutions, and a nationwide outreach campaign connecting families with localised online safety resources.
Google’s engagement with Pakistan has expanded steadily in recent years through digital-skilling, artificial intelligence, app development and online-safety initiatives, alongside support for local technology businesses.
Earlier in the week, a senior Google delegation also met Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry to discuss digital security, countering terrorism through social media, and the timely removal of harmful online content, with Chaudhry urging the company to take Pakistan’s specific circumstances into account.
The government noted that around 350,000 Google Career Certificate scholarships have been completed since 2022, alongside outreach through Google-backed developer groups that has reached hundreds of thousands of developers across the country.
Managing Editor at Global News Pakistan (GNP), with a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Riphah International University, graduated with a Gold Medal. Reach out at sabahtareengnp@gmail.com
