Pakistan and China have signed a series of landmark agreements during a business-to-business conference held as part of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to China, alongside Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Shaza Khawaja and other cabinet members. The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication said the visit comes as both countries mark 75 years of diplomatic relations.
The agreements focus on expanding cooperation in artificial intelligence, fintech, cloud computing, and next-generation telecommunications under the framework of CPEC 2.0 and the Digital Silk Road initiative.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the conference, Shaza Khawaja said the visit reflects the strength of the long-standing Pakistan–China “All-Weather” partnership and highlights a shared commitment to accelerating digital transformation through implementation-focused collaboration.
According to the ministry, several government-to-business memorandums of understanding were signed and advanced under the leadership of the Ministry of IT and Ignite – National Technology Fund.
Among the key agreements is a collaboration between Ignite and Alibaba DAMO Academy aimed at building capacity in embodied intelligence across Pakistani universities. The initiative is intended to strengthen Pakistan’s position in emerging artificial intelligence technologies through academic and research partnerships.
Another agreement involves Alibaba Cloud, which will support the development of Pakistan’s sovereign cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence ecosystem. The partnership includes curriculum development, certification programs, teacher training, AI hackathons, and broader digital capacity-building initiatives.
The ministry further stated that Ignite’s engagement with KOKO will explore the expansion of buy-now-pay-later solutions to promote digital financial inclusion and e-commerce growth.
In the telecommunications sector, collaboration between the Special Communications Organization and Hannwave will focus on developing frameworks for the deployment, operation, and commercialization of 5G services in Pakistan. Officials described the agreements as part of “Digital CPEC,” aimed at strengthening long-term innovation, investment, and skills development between the two countries.
