Commerce Ministry moves to build AI-enabled digital trade ecosystem

According to Mettis Global, the Ministry of Commerce is developing a secure, AI-enabled digital system for its own departments and attached bodies. The plan includes strengthening the country's sovereign cloud capacity and data-centre facilities, standardising trade data, and using AI to shape trade and export decisions based on evidence.

Federal Minister Jam Kamal Khan met separately with the Pakistan Digital Authority and Sky47 management to discuss the plan, which treats public information as a national resource. He said the ministry holds large volumes of data on tariff lines, exporters, overseas markets and trade bodies, and that this information should be standardised and shared with approved users in secure formats. He also called for linking the ministry with attached departments, trade chambers, associations and trade officers in more than 55 countries.

The meeting with Sky47 covered data-centre capacity, sovereign cloud services, cybersecurity and computing demand tied to AI, with the company outlining plans to expand secure hosting in Pakistan. Officials agreed to limit interdepartmental transfers to the specific data each purpose needs, not whole datasets, through a traceable exchange mechanism. The minister also raised concerns about confidential government work being run on publicly available foreign AI platforms, and asked for clear guidelines.