Mr. Michael Evens, President Alibaba Group called on Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad today.

The Prime Minister said he had very fruitful discussions with the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, Mr. Jack Ma, on the sidelines of World Economic Forum at Davos earlier this year regarding the opportunities for the Group to establish an e-platform in Pakistan.

The Prime Minister explicated that Pakistan had achieved economic stability over the last three years and was now amongst the fastest growing economies of the region. He added that the security situation in the country had improved significantly, the industry was being provided uninterrupted power supply, and there had been unprecedented development of infrastructure along with a revolutionary expansion in IT and Telecommunications. The Prime Minister said that the government was focused on institutional reforms, achieving good governance and rationalizing the taxation structure.

Mr. Michael Evens thanked the Prime Minister for inviting him to Pakistan and informed the Prime Minister about the very meaningful meetings he had had on the previous day with various federal ministries. He said he had been very impressed to see how the use of IT and Telecommunications had grown in Pakistan, which provided the vital base for expansion of e-commerce in the country. He added that he was very confident that Alibaba’s e-platform would provide significant stimulus for growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in Pakistan.

Minister for Commerce, Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan, Minister of State for Information Technology, Ms. Anusha Rehman, Chairman Board of Investment, Mr. Mifta Ismail, were also present during the meeting.