Pakistan eyes domestic AI platform for secure government trade data

According to Business Recorder, Federal Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan has ordered a secure, AI-driven digital system for his ministry, as stated on Friday. The move followed separate talks with the Pakistan Digital Authority and the management of Sky47, both centred on viewing government information as a national resource. Participants also reviewed sovereign cloud and data-centre capacity, secure information exchange and AI use in evidence-based trade and export policy.

Jam Kamal noted that the ministry holds large volumes of material on thousands of tariff lines, exporters and overseas missions. He wants that material standardised, linked together and put within reach of authorised users through formats that support decisions. The Pakistan Digital Authority outlined a national data framework covering governance, exchange and cloud adoption, sorting information as open, shared, restricted or personally identifiable while ministries retain control.

Sky47 described plans to expand secure hosting capacity in Pakistan, and the minister was told that modern facilities could cut costs and security risks tied to many small departmental sites. Departments should share only what a specific purpose requires rather than complete datasets. The minister voiced concern about confidential official work being run through foreign AI tools and urged clear guidelines and secure domestic alternatives. The relevant teams were asked to keep up technical talks and draft practical proposals on secure data integration and sovereign cloud adoption.