Commerce ministry to digitise trade data

Federal Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan has urged the creation of a secure, joined-up and AI-enabled digital system for his ministry and its attached bodies, according to a statement issued on Saturday. The call came after separate meetings with the Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) and Sky47.

The discussions centred on treating government information as a strategic resource, bolstering Pakistan's sovereign cloud setup, enabling safe data sharing, and using AI to inform trade and export policy decisions. Khan noted the ministry holds large volumes of material on thousands of tariff lines, exporters, foreign markets, trade associations and overseas missions. He argued that these scattered records need to be standardised, merged and opened to approved users.

The PDA outlined a developing national framework for data governance and cloud use, including sorting government data into open, shared and restricted categories while ministries keep ownership. Khan also pointed to AI's capacity to study trade patterns, spot export openings and help draft market-specific policy proposals.