ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on E-Commerce Senator Aon Abbas Buppi has said the government will soon lay the foundation of Pakistan’s first e-commerce university.

While presiding over the National E-Commerce Symposium organised by the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday, he said the proposed university would enhance the capabilities of e-commerce traders not only in Pakistan but also in the emerging international market.

Mr Buppi said most of the e-commerce business was being done by the youths and the government would provide them all facilities.

He said the e-commerce university would provide employment opportunities to the youths and Pakistan would become a part of the global supply chain which would enhance the country’s economic strength.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had high hopes from the youths and now mostly young people were in e-commerce trading, which could increase the country’s exports.

The special assistant said the government was also planning to create the first e-commerce web portal, which would help in curbing illegal trade.

He said with the help of Chinese company Alibaba, an e-commerce portal would be created and transparency would be brought in this sector.

Mr Buppi said the government had planned to increase e-commerce trade volume to $9 billion by June 2023. “There are conflicting figures in Pakistan’s e-commerce trade, however, with the current trade of $4.5bn, we can take it to $9bn. I will take care of all the issues of e-commerce traders, including State Bank of Pakistan and other tax agencies,” he said.

The special assistant said the most of the issues were related to finance, taxes, logistics data and ‘Ease of Doing Business’ of which the government was aware and would pay full attention to them.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2021