Govt, Alibaba to boost e-commerce
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The government is set to partner with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba next week in a strategic move to promote the country's exports worldwide. The collaboration aims to strengthen Pakistan's digital supply chain ecosystem by leveraging secure and real-time digital payment solutions such as Raast, the country's instant payment system.
Speaking at the 18th International Conference on 'Mobile Commerce 2025', Faiz Ahmad, Chief Executive of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), announced, "We are partnering with Alibaba in the next week — to revolutionise all Pakistani products that are discovered, sold, and shifted across borders. It is one of the two global e-commerce giants, including Amazon."
"Our vision is to create a single unified digital supply chain ecosystem, supported by secured and real-time digital payment solutions like the national instant payment system Raast, being successfully operated by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)," he said at the one-day conference organised by Total Communications in Karachi.
Ahmad elaborated with a practical example: imagine a small business in Skardu receiving a bulk order from Alibaba. The payment arrives instantly into its mobile wallet via Raast. The same wallet is used to pay a supplier in Karachi through Raast. Inventory is hit, tracked, and restarted without cash, without a bank, and without barriers. "That is the power of digital commerce. That is the vision we are materialising right now. Raast makes this region not only possible but practical and scalable. This is not theoretical. It is actionable. This is the future we are building with your support."
TDAP and the Ministry of Commerce are fully committed to driving this digital shift, not just as a policy priority but "as a national imperative," he added.
Faisal Mahmood, Head of Digital Public Infrastructure at Karandaaz Pakistan, raised concerns about the central bank's capacity to run pilot phases of projects within the SBP sandbox. He questioned whether the necessary resources — such as funding, expertise, and technical support — are adequately available to effectively support such initiatives.
To recall, the SBP launched its sandbox guidelines around two months ago, in May 2025. Soon, it will invite all entities — regulated or unregulated — such as banks, fintechs, and startups, to test their digital business ideas and potential solutions in a controlled environment with relaxed regulations during the testing phase.
Ali Imran Khan, Deputy CIO at Meezan Bank, emphasised that open banking represents the future of financial services. He explained that it enables financial institutions to securely share customer data with third parties, allowing for the development of personalised financial solutions. Importantly, this data sharing only occurs with the explicit consent of account holders.
Muhammad Hamayun Sajjad, CEO of Mashreq Pakistan, remarked that cash has remained the "king of the ring" so far. However, he emphasised that digitalisation is no longer just an optionit has become essential for driving growth.
The one-day conference hosted four panel discussions, including: (1) From Experiment to Execution: The Role of Regulatory Sandboxes in Digital Financial Services; (2) From Legacy to Agility: The Future of Financial Services with Open Banking; (3) Navigating Payments, Lending and Technologies in E-Commerce; and (4) The Rise of Digital Wallets and Its Relevance to Pakistan.
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