Govt will bring new e-commerce policy: President Alvi

ISLAMABAD: President Dr. Arif Alvi has said promotion of e-commerce was highly essential for strengthening the economy and the government would soon bring new e-commerce policy for modernizing the businesses in the country.

President Dr. Arif Alvi was chairing a meeting on e-commerce to review the action plan with regard to the implementation of e-commerce policy in the country, according to a statement issued on Monday.

The meeting was attended by Minister for IT & Telecom Syed Amin ul Haque, Advisor to PM on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Deputy Governor State Bank of Pakistan Jamil Ahmed, Secretary to the President Tariq Najeeb Najmi, Secretary IT & Telecom Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, Additional Secretary Finance and others.

The meeting was briefed about the e-commerce initiatives and their role in the economic development of the country. Dr. Arif Alvi said e-commerce was highly essential for strengthening the economy of the country as it provided access to distant markets, reduce the cost of doing business and create employment opportunities.

The president said it offered huge opportunities for small and medium enterprises that connected them with Pakistani online markets and international markets through global e-commerce platforms.

The meeting was informed that the country had the potential to increase its GDP by US$36 billion and create 4 million jobs by 2025 by using digital financial services. The participants were apprized that E-trade in the country had crossed over Rs. 100 billion.

In order to promote e-commerce, the meeting underscored the need for tax incentive packages and the availability of IT infrastructure and the quality of services in the country.

It informed that exports in Information Technology (IT) during the COVID-19 pandemic were not affected as compared to other sectors however,  it witnessed further increase during the period.