ISLAMABAD ( BMZ REPORT )
Recognizing the immense importance of e-Commerce for the economic growth of the country Ms Anusha Rahman, Minister of State for IT and Khurram Dastagir Khan, Minister for Commerce committed to expediting the much needed E-commerce framework at the earliest. The need for a fully committed joint working on the subject was realized in a meeting between the Ministers held at the Ministry of Information Technology to discuss the immediate measures required to unleash the multi Billion dollar trade potential in the e-Commerce domain. Meeting was also attended by the senior officials from Ministries of Commerce and IT where a thorough presentation on the e-commerce state of affairs was made by Member Telecom of the MoIT.
Minister of IT has carried the initiative over the past one year through an Inter-ministerial Committee of all stakeholders to remove impediments in development of Ecommerce in the country. IMC for e-Commerce, which has representation of Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Law & Justice, PTA, PSEB, FBR and State Bank of Pakistan. Minister apprised the meeting that as result of the Committee’s work Framework for Payment System Operators and Providers have been devised and approved by the State Bank of Pakistan. Different companies have showed their interest to SBP for the establishment of e-Payment Gateway. Pakistan’s ranking on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list from Grey to White has enabled entry to credible international players. Prospects of international e-Commerce players like PayPal, Google pay, E Bay, Amazon, Ali baba etc then become fully possible for offering their services in Pakistan. Several other measures for a holistic approach to enable fully functional e-commerce value chain in Pakistan were also agreed by the committee.
The meeting was apprised that as per a joint decision of the IMC a holistic framework for building user trust and confidence in the online purchases and transactions was direly needed which will also provide clarity to all players of the value chain. A draft structure of the framework was also presented to the forum. Both the Ministers appreciated the efforts of IMC as well as the work carried out by MoIT in this regard and agreed to assign dedicated joint teams of all stakeholders for the assignment of finalizing the draft framework. Another meeting of the Ministers will be held next week to finalize the timelines for the conclusion of the draft. Both the Minister’s agreed to accord top priority to the completion of ground work for the e-Commerce Framework by the end of the current year.