ISLAMABAD – In a first, Pakistan to hire foreign payment provider toestablish Pakistan’s own International payment gateway.
The government is working to engage a foreign payment provider to establishPakistan’s own international payment gateway which will be pre-integratedwith Paypal, Visa, MasterCard, and Alipay.
This was revealed during a meeting chaired by the Advisor to Prime Ministeron Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production & Investment discussinge-Commerce Policy implementation with key stakeholders from the public andthe private sector.
The meeting focused on different problems that are being faced by theprivate sector in e-Commerce.
A large number of senior officers from the National Information TechnologyBoard (NITB) Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) Habib Bank Limited (HBL) andleading e-Commerce Platforms from the private sector attended the meeting.
The Adviser said that the private sector can be rightly credited as theengine of growth in every economy and the government is committed tofacilitating this sector by removing all bottlenecks.
He added that the aim of this policy is to generate more employmentopportunities, empower youth and SMEs with a focus on female entrepreneursby connecting them to global e-Commerce platforms and ultimately enhancingthe exports of the country.
Four main issues discussed during the meeting include:
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– Progress on the establishment of an international payment gateway in Pakistan. – Ease of doing business with reference to the e-Commerce sector. – Taxation on e-Commerce. – Rescheduling of the date of the launch of e-Commerce Policy from 23rd December 2019 to the third week of January 2020.
About the progress on the international payment gateway, CEO NITB said thathis team is working on a suitable arrangement to engage a foreign companyto establish Pakistan’s international payment gateway.
The payment gateway will be pre-integrated with Paypal, Visa, MasterCard,and Alipay. The most important feature of the payment infrastructure willbe the security of the data generated by financial transactions carried outin Pakistan.
Highlighting the issues being faced by the e-commerce sector, the privatesector participants shared the importance of developing the systemincluding the facilitation of venture capital and foreign investment ine-commerce companies and startups.
Taxation was also discussed and participants were informed about thedialogue with Provincial Revenue Authorities to address double taxation.State Bank of Pakistan talked about its implementation status, saying thatseveral benchmarks identified in the policy have already been achieved. SBPwas also willing to find solutions for any other difficulties faced bye-Commerce companies and freelancers.
Secretary Commerce asked P@SHA to coordinate with the companies to list allthe issues with practical recommendations and share them with the Ministryof Commerce by 1st January 2020. Concrete solutions will be developed inconsultation with SBP and FBR by the third week of January at the launchingceremony of the new e-Commerce Policy.
