Federal Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan has held separate meetings with the Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) and the management of Sky47 to discuss building a secure, joined-up and artificial intelligence-enabled digital system for his ministry and its attached bodies. A press release issued in Islamabad on Friday said the talks centred on treating government data as a national asset and strengthening the country’s sovereign cloud and data-centre infrastructure.
The discussions also addressed safe data sharing between institutions and the use of AI to inform evidence-based trade and export policy. Both meetings formed part of a wider effort to modernise how the ministry handles its information.
Linking scattered trade data across the commerce ministry
Khan said the ministry holds a large volume of information covering thousands of tariff and product lines, exporters, overseas markets, trade bodies, chambers of commerce, business associations and foreign trade missions. In his view, this information is spread across many places and needs to be standardised and integrated. He said it should then be made available to authorised users in formats that are secure and useful for decision-making.
“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 stressed the need to connect the ministry’s wings and attached departments with the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, chambers, trade associations and Pakistan’s trade officers posted in more than 55 countries. He also called for tighter integration of the ministry’s digital portals, so that trade activity and market intelligence could be viewed in one place.
Data governance rules and the proposed AI platform
The Pakistan Digital Authority briefed the minister on an emerging national framework covering data governance, data exchange, enterprise architecture and cloud adoption. Under the proposal, government data would be sorted into categories such as open, shared, restricted and personally identifiable information. Ownership and control would remain with the relevant ministries and public bodies.
Participants agreed that departments should share only the information needed for a specific purpose, rather than handing over entire datasets. The proposed exchange mechanism is intended to make interdepartmental access secure, standardised and traceable, while guarding against the misuse of confidential and personal records. The meeting also discussed a national digital master plan, under which sector-specific digitalisation roadmaps could be drawn up with federal and provincial governments, public institutions and the private sector.
Khan highlighted the potential of AI to analyse trade trends, identify export opportunities and help prepare policy recommendations for individual markets. He said an indigenous AI platform, trained on authorised government and sectoral data, could become a strong tool for economic planning and the delivery of public services. At the same time, he voiced concern about government staff using publicly available foreign AI platforms for confidential official work. He called for clear guidelines, awareness campaigns and secure domestic alternatives, so that sensitive correspondence and institutional data do not end up with unauthorised external systems.
Sky47 outlines hosting capacity and sovereign cloud plans
The meeting with Sky47 focused on the country’s data-centre capacity, sovereign cloud services, cybersecurity, disaster recovery and the rising computing demands linked to AI. The company’s team briefed the minister on its existing infrastructure and on plans to expand secure and reliable hosting capacity in Pakistan.
The minister was told that modern data centres can offer highly dependable services that meet international standards. Such facilities could also lower costs and reduce security risks compared with the many small, fragmented departmental facilities currently in use. Discussions extended to energy-efficient cooling, intelligent data storage, metadata management and data-fabric technologies. Participants also considered the different computing needs of conventional applications, AI models and future quantum-computing workloads.
Khan stressed that Pakistan must build enough local capacity to host critical national data inside the country. In his words, this would protect data sovereignty while encouraging innovation and investment in cloud computing, AI and digital services.
Procurement reform and a proposed digital commerce network
The meetings also looked at reforms to how the public sector buys technology. Participants called for cloud-procurement frameworks that would let government organisations obtain infrastructure, platforms and software as services without facing lengthy and outdated procedures. Khan backed closer coordination among the PDA, the commerce ministry, the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), IPO Pakistan and other stakeholders. The aim is to support startups and innovators, so that prototypes built to solve government challenges can move quickly through transparent procurement and wider deployment.
The participants further discussed whether to set up an Open Network for Digital Commerce, adapted to Pakistan’s needs. According to the proposal, such a network could link producers, exporters, logistics providers, financial institutions and consumers, opening new opportunities for small and medium enterprises.
Khan directed the relevant teams to continue technical consultations and to prepare practical proposals on secure data integration, sovereign cloud adoption, AI-enabled trade intelligence and digital-commerce infrastructure. He said the commerce ministry would work closely with the PDA, Sky47 and other stakeholders. The stated goal is to ensure that digital transformation supports export growth, better governance, innovation and long-term economic competitiveness.
