Cabinet okays establishment of Digital Commission, Pakistan Digital Authority

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Tuesday principally approved the Digital Nation Pakistan Act 2024 providing for the establishment of the National Digital Commission and Pakistan Digital Authority besides ensuring digitisation of national economy and paperless governance.

The cabinet which met under the chair of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, asked the law ministry to carry out the required review of the Act, which also aimed at digitising the services sector in accordance with international standards.

Under the Act, the National Digital Commission would act as a policymaking organisation, to be headed by the prime minister and comprising federal and provincial members.

Moreover, a Pakistan Digital Authority would be established to achieve the objectives of Digital Pakistan. Being a corporate entity, the Authority would have financial and administrative autonomy.

Apprising the members of his recent visit to China and his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, the prime minister mentioned his conversation with Chinese leadership on second phase of CPEC-II. He said that a high-powered Chinese delegation would visit Pakistan to further expand the bilateral cooperation.

He told the meeting that B2B meetings were held between the businessmen and investors of Pakistan and China at the Pakistan-China Business Forum in Shenzhen.

PM Shehbaz said the government would send around 1,000 youngsters to China for professional training in innovations and technology in the agriculture sector. Moreover, Huawei would also annually train 200,000 Pakistani youngsters in different fields of information technology, he added.

The federal cabinet approved the appointment of members of the National School for Public Policy from both the public and private education sectors.

On the recommendation of the human rights ministry, a cabinet committee was constituted to initiate the appointment of a member from Islamabad in the National Commission for Human Rights.

The meeting principally approved The Arbitration Bill 2024 and relevant consultation with the provinces under Article 144 of the constitution, and the signing of an MoU between the National Accountability Bureau and Sri Lanka’s Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption to promote cooperation against bribery and illegal flow of money.

The federal cabinet endorsed the decisions of the Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises taken on May 13 and 20, 2024, the Economic Coordination Committee’s decisions of May 23 and 27, 2024, and those of the Cabinet Committee on Legislative Cases made on June 5.