The Ministry of Commerce is examining proposals to develop a secure, integrated and artificial intelligence enabled digital ecosystem for trade, with a focus on protecting government data, strengthening sovereign cloud and data centre infrastructure, improving secure data exchange and using AI to support trade and export policymaking.
Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan held separate meetings with representatives of the Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) and Sky47 on August 21, 2026, to review proposals aimed at improving the way trade related information is stored, managed and used across government institutions and the wider business ecosystem.
The discussions centred on the treatment of government data as a national asset and the development of infrastructure capable of supporting secure data management and advanced computing requirements. The Ministry of Commerce maintains extensive information covering thousands of tariff and product lines, exporters, international markets, trade bodies, chambers of commerce, business associations and overseas trade missions. The ministry is now looking to standardise and integrate this information so authorised users can access it in secure and usable formats.
Jam Kamal stressed that Pakistan’s trade data holds significant value for the government, exporters, businesses and policymakers. He said the information needs to be protected, appropriately classified and converted into actionable intelligence that can support commercial decisions and policymaking.
The minister also called for greater connectivity between the ministry’s various wings and attached departments, the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, chambers of commerce, trade associations and Pakistan’s trade officers operating in more than 55 countries. Greater integration of the ministry’s digital portals was also discussed to create a unified view of trade activities and market intelligence.
Representatives of the Pakistan Digital Authority briefed the meeting on the emerging national framework covering data governance, data exchange, enterprise architecture and cloud adoption. The discussions included the classification of government information into categories such as open, shared, restricted and personally identifiable information. The proposed framework would retain ownership and control of data with the relevant ministries and public bodies.
The participants also discussed a national digital master plan that could provide a broader framework for sector specific digitalisation. Under the proposed approach, individual sectors could develop their own digitalisation roadmaps in coordination with federal and provincial governments, public institutions and private sector stakeholders.
A separate meeting with Sky47 focused on the infrastructure required to support Pakistan’s growing digital and AI computing needs. Discussions covered data centre capacity, sovereign cloud services, cybersecurity, disaster recovery and the expansion of secure hosting infrastructure within the country.
The Sky47 management briefed the commerce minister on its existing data centre infrastructure and plans to expand secure and reliable hosting capacity in Pakistan. The meeting was also informed that modern data centres can provide highly reliable services based on international standards while potentially reducing costs and security risks associated with maintaining multiple smaller and fragmented departmental facilities.
The discussions extended to the infrastructure requirements of emerging technologies. Energy efficient cooling systems, intelligent data storage, metadata management and data fabric technologies were among the areas examined during the meeting. Participants also considered the different computing requirements associated with conventional applications, artificial intelligence models and future quantum computing workloads.
The proposed approach indicates a broader effort to bring Pakistan’s trade related data and digital infrastructure into a more integrated framework. By combining stronger data governance with sovereign cloud capacity, secure data exchange and AI based analysis, the Ministry of Commerce aims to improve access to trade intelligence and strengthen the digital foundation supporting exporters and policymakers.
The initiative also places greater emphasis on cybersecurity and domestic infrastructure as government departments expand their reliance on cloud services and advanced computing. The discussions between the Ministry of Commerce, PDA and Sky47 therefore cover both the policy framework for managing government data and the physical and technological infrastructure required to support a more connected digital trade environment.
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