Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has instructed federal ministries and state agencies to establish firm performance targets and clear timelines for all joint ventures and initiatives involving Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group. The directive was issued during a high-level review meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Islamabad.
The meeting focused on accelerating Pakistan‘s digital commerce framework, integrating small and medium enterprises into international value chains, and deepening technical cooperation with Chinese technology enterprises.
Background
Pakistan has sought to harness digital platforms to modernize its trade ecosystem and expand beyond its traditional reliance on low-value textile exports. Engagement with Alibaba Group began in earnest in 2017 when the government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hangzhou-based conglomerate to promote worldwide exports of Pakistani products via cross-border business-to-business (B2B) channels.
Alibaba expanded its footprint in the country in 2018 through the acquisition of Daraz, South Asia’s leading business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce platform. Daraz built extensive domestic logistics networks, automated fulfillment hubs, and cashless payment infrastructure across major urban centers, including Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi.
Despite these early advances, Pakistan’s participation in global digital supply chains has lagged behind regional competitors. Complex regulatory systems, limited digital payment gateways, fragmented logistics, and low technical awareness among cottage industries have constrained progress. Prime Minister Sharif’s administration, seeking foreign exchange stabilization and export diversification following recent macroeconomic shocks, has prioritized bilateral technology partnerships initiated during official visits to Beijing and Shenzhen.
Key developments
During the Islamabad review session, the Prime Minister evaluated existing programs run alongside Alibaba and identified administrative bottlenecks that have stalled project delivery across commerce, logistics, and data infrastructure.
Export enablement for local enterprises
The Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Commerce and the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to formulate a measurable roadmap to onboard thousands of export-ready manufacturers onto Alibaba.com. Under the updated framework, the government will subsidize verified seller certifications and digital storefront setups for exporters in specialized clusters, including surgical instruments from Sialkot, leather goods from Gujranwala, and sporting goods from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Cloud computing and digital infrastructure
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) was tasked with presenting a roadmap for public-private partnerships with Alibaba Cloud. The initiative explores establishing edge nodes and cloud capabilities within special technology zones to host enterprise data, deliver compute capacity for artificial intelligence startups, and reduce latency for domestic corporate users. Regulatory compliance under the National Cyber Security Policy and data residency requirements were flagged as priority agenda items.
Logistics and customs integration
To cut clearance delays for cross-border parcels, the Prime Minister instructed Pakistan Customs and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to align their automated clearing systems—including the Pakistan Single Window (PSW)—with international digital marketplaces. The objective is to shorten customs processing windows, automate duties collection on micro-consignments, and support bonded warehousing solutions managed by international third-party logistics firms.
Digital skills and vocational development
The government ordered the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) to coordinate with Alibaba’s Global Digital Talent (GDT) program. The resulting initiative aims to train university students, rural entrepreneurs, and vocational trainees in catalog optimization, cross-border marketing, digital customer support, and supply chain management.
Impact
Establishing binding operational targets for Alibaba-backed projects is expected to generate structural shifts in multiple sectors of the economy.
For small and medium enterprises, direct access to Alibaba’s wholesale platform removes foreign trade intermediaries, raising profit margins for domestic producers. Micro-manufacturers that lacked the scale to participate in overseas trade exhibitions can present their inventories directly to verified wholesale buyers in Europe, North America, and East Asia.
The initiative also bears direct fiscal implications. Pakistan aims to increase total IT and IT-enabled services exports past five billion dollars annually. Expanding cloud infrastructure, technical training, and e-commerce services helps widen the formal services export ledger, easing chronic current-account pressures.
Domestic logistics and fulfillment sectors stand to gain from operational upgrades. Modernizing domestic sorting centers, expanding computerized fleet tracking, and adopting data-driven inventory management lower domestic freight costs, which remain disproportionately high relative to regional averages.
The regulatory and digital finance landscape will likewise feel the effects. To process higher volumes of small-value export payments, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will accelerate foreign exchange settlement processes, making it easier for local merchant accounts to receive automated inward remittances directly from international buyers.
What next
The Prime Minister ordered an inter-ministerial steering committee to oversee implementation and deliver its first progress report within two weeks. The committee includes the Federal Minister for Commerce, the Federal Minister for Information Technology, the Chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI), and leadership from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Specific milestones slated for the coming quarters include:
- The Ministry of Commerce will launch an exporter outreach program across industrial chambers in Faisalabad, Sialkot, Karachi, and Peshawar to register the first batch of supported vendor accounts.
- The State Bank of Pakistan will issue updated guidelines for business-to-consumer and micro-B2B cross-border transaction settlements to cut banking fees and processing periods.
- The Board of Investment will negotiate concession packages for Alibaba logistics partners seeking to set up bonded air-cargo handling hubs adjacent to Islamabad International Airport and Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore.
- The Ministry of Information Technology will conclude technical consultations with Alibaba Cloud representatives regarding data sovereignty frameworks and commercial cloud deployments inside Pakistan’s Special Technology Zones.
The Prime Minister reiterated that project timelines must be honored without bureaucratic slippage, warning that progress across all designated portfolios will be monitored directly by his secretariat on a monthly basis.
