Commerce ministry to digitise trade data

Minister says trade data is 'valuable national asset' to be transformed into actionable intelligence

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan has called for developing a secure, integrated and AI-enabled digital ecosystem for the Ministry of Commerce and its attached organisations, following separate meetings with the Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) and Sky47, a statement said on Saturday.

The meetings focused on treating government data as a national asset, strengthening Pakistan's sovereign cloud infrastructure, enabling secure data exchange, and utilising artificial intelligence for evidence-based trade and export policymaking.

Khan said the ministry maintains extensive information relating to thousands of tariff and product lines, exporters, international markets, trade bodies and overseas trade missions. He stressed that this dispersed information must be standardised, integrated and made readily available to authorised users.

"Pakistan's trade data is a valuable national asset. It must be protected, properly classified and transformed into actionable intelligence," the minister said.

The PDA briefed the minister on the emerging national framework for data governance and cloud adoption. Discussions covered classification of government data into categories such as open, shared and restricted, while preserving ownership with respective ministries.

Khan highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence to analyse trade trends, identify export opportunities and assist in preparing market-specific policy recommendations.