KARACHI: The Pakistan government and Alibaba Group have signed a series of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to expand cooperation in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital skills, healthcare technology, e-commerce and SME development, in a push to accelerate the country’s digital transformation, a statement announced.
The agreements were signed at Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou and witnessed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Alibaba Group Chairman Joe Tsai. Pakistani signatories include Ignite National Technology Fund, SMEDA and Sky47, while Alibaba entities include Alibaba Cloud, DAMO Academy, Alibaba[dot]com and Koko Tech.
Sharif said the partnership would support digital inclusion, youth employment and the modernisation of key sectors including agriculture and financial services. Joe Tsai said AI and cloud technologies could help expand healthcare access and enable businesses to reach global markets.
Under the AI and cloud agreement, Ignite and Alibaba Cloud will develop Urdu and regional language AI models and deploy nationwide training programmes for around 500,000 students, developers and public sector employees. Both sides will also host an AI hackathon focused on agriculture, financial inclusion and local language technologies.
In healthcare, DAMO Academy and Sky47 will introduce AI-based diagnostic tools using CT imaging to support early detection of diseases including liver and pancreatic cancer, with planned deployment in major cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
For SMEs, Alibaba[dot]com and SMEDA will provide AI-based digital trade training to 10,000 businesses and onboard at least 2,000 firms to a dedicated Pakistan portal aimed at improving export access to Alibaba’s global buyer network.
Separately, Koko Tech and Ignite agreed to launch and scale a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service in Pakistan. Koko Tech said it plans to invest $3 million to expand digital payments infrastructure and support financial inclusion.
