National E-Commerce Council to Develop 5-Year Roadmap to Increase Digital Trade

The National eCommerce Council (NeCC) wants to create a five-year action plan to boost digital trade in Pakistan. This was decided at the council’s 9th meeting with Commerce Minister Jam Kamal in the chair. The meeting decided to present the new cross-sectoral policy to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar before the upcoming budget session. The commerce minister directed to form working groups including a group focused on the payments system. A representative from the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) briefed the meeting on the Pakistan Trade Portal (PTP), which currently has 3,555 sellers, and 1,342 buyers, and lists 8,345 products across 34 cities. Jam Kamal praised TDAP’s efforts and recommended linking the portal with other sources to increase registrations. A central bank official told the meeting about the current state of digital payment systems and urged the need for a secure payment infrastructure for e-commerce growth. The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) outlined challenges in the IT sector and proposed growth strategies. A representative of AlfaMall informed the committee about the progress of B2C retail e-commerce, related consumer behavior and market trends, and its potential to transform online retail in the country.