Commerce Minister pushes sovereign cloud, AI-Powered trade ecosystem for Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Aug 21 (APP): Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan held separate meetings with representatives of the Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) and the management of Sky47 to explore the development of a secure, integrated and AI-enabled digital ecosystem for the Ministry of Commerce and its attached organizations.

The meetings focused on treating government data as a national asset, strengthening Pakistan’s sovereign cloud and data-centre infrastructure, enabling secure data exchange, and utilizing artificial intelligence for evidence-based trade and export policymaking, said a press release issued here on Friday.

Jam Kamal Khan said the Ministry of Commerce maintains extensive information relating to thousands of tariff and product lines, exporters, international markets, trade bodies, chambers of commerce, business associations and overseas trade missions.

He stressed that this dispersed information must be standardized, integrated and made readily available to authorized users in secure and decision-friendly formats.

“Pakistan’s trade data is a valuable national asset. It must be protected, properly classified and transformed into actionable intelligence for exporters, businesses and policymakers,” the Minister said.

He emphasized the need to connect the Ministry’s wings, attached departments, the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, chambers and trade associations, as well as Pakistan’s trade officers serving in more than 55 countries.

He also called for greater integration of the Ministry’s digital portals to provide a unified view of trade-related activities and market intelligence.

The Pakistan Digital Authority briefed the Minister on the emerging national framework for data governance, data exchange, enterprise architecture and cloud adoption. The meeting discussed the classification of government data into categories such as open, shared, restricted and personally identifiable information, while preserving the ownership and control of data with the respective ministries and public bodies.

It was emphasized that government departments should share only the information required for a particular purpose instead of transferring complete datasets. The proposed data-exchange mechanism would facilitate secure, standardized and traceable interdepartmental access while preventing misuse of confidential and personal information.

The participants also discussed the establishment of a national digital master plan, under which sector-specific digitalization roadmaps could be developed in coordination with federal and provincial governments, public institutions and the private sector.

Jam Kamal Khan highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence to analyze trade trends, identify export opportunities and assist in preparing market-specific policy recommendations. He said an indigenous AI platform trained on authorized government and sectoral datasets could become a powerful tool for economic planning and public service delivery.

The meeting with Sky47 focused on Pakistan’s data-centre capacity, sovereign cloud services, cybersecurity, disaster recovery and the growing computing requirements associated with artificial intelligence.

The Sky47 team briefed the Minister on its data-centre infrastructure and plans to expand secure and reliable hosting capacity in Pakistan.

The Minister was informed that modern data centres could provide highly reliable services aligned with international standards while reducing the cost and security risks associated with numerous small and fragmented departmental facilities.

The discussions also covered energy-efficient cooling systems, intelligent data storage, metadata management, data-fabric technologies and the separate computing requirements of conventional applications, AI models and future quantum-computing workloads.

The Minister stressed that Pakistan must build sufficient local capacity to host critical national data within the country, ensuring data sovereignty while enabling innovation and investment in cloud computing, artificial intelligence and digital services.

The meetings further examined reforms in public-sector technology procurement. Participants underlined the need for cloud-procurement frameworks that allow government organizations to obtain infrastructure, platforms and software as services without facing unnecessarily lengthy and outdated procedures.

The Minister supported closer coordination among the Pakistan Digital Authority, Ministry of Commerce, PPRA, IPO Pakistan and other stakeholders to develop mechanisms for supporting startups and innovators. Such frameworks could allow successful prototypes developed in response to government challenges to move towards transparent, fast-track procurement and wider deployment.

The potential establishment of an Open Network for Digital Commerce, adapted to Pakistan’s requirements, was also discussed. The proposed network could digitally connect producers, exporters, logistics providers, financial institutions and consumers while opening new opportunities for small and medium enterprises.

Jam Kamal Khan also expressed concern over the use of publicly available foreign AI platforms for confidential official work. He called for clear guidelines, awareness and secure domestic alternatives to prevent sensitive government correspondence and institutional data from being transferred to unauthorized external systems.

He directed the relevant teams to continue technical consultations and develop practical proposals for secure data integration, sovereign cloud adoption, AI-enabled trade intelligence and digital-commerce infrastructure.

The Minister said the Ministry of Commerce would work closely with the Pakistan Digital Authority, Sky47 and other stakeholders to ensure that Pakistan’s digital transformation directly contributes to export growth, better governance, innovation and long-term economic competitiveness.