Regional Lead for Asia
Waqas is the Regional Lead for Asia at the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership (GDIP), supporting the Women in the Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF). Waqas is a public policy and stakeholder engagement expert, having led the international collaborations and partnerships of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) before joining GDIP.
He is passionate about all-inclusive digital transformation, social inclusion, community projects, inclusive policy and regulatory processes, and capacity building. In addition to PTA’s landmark ‘Digital Gender Inclusion Strategy’, Waqas has carried out numerous projects on increasing connectivity, policy and regulatory interventions, digital skills, online child protection, and web accessibility for persons with disabilities.
He is an active contributor to the internet governance community on the national, regional, and international levels. He is the former Vice-Chair of the Multistakeholder Group of the Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) and the current Vice-Chair of the Asia-Pacific School on Internet Governance (APSIG). He was the President of the Internet Society Pakistan Islamabad Chapter for four years and the former Vice-Chair of its Board of Directors.
Waqas holds a Master’s degree in international relations from SZABIST University Islamabad and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology from Curtin University, Australia. Waqas believes in an open, secure, and all-inclusive internet and would love to connect for community empowerment through meaningful interventions.