Pakistan to invite PayPal, Alibaba to start e-commerce services

Pakistan is set to invite global online payment giants PayPal and Alibaba to offer their services in the country, the IT ministry has said, after easing its e-commerce rules.

The move follows a decision by the global Financial Action Task Force to remove Pakistan from its list of high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions linked to money laundering.

Neither US-based PayPal nor Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (which operates a service called Alipay) currently work inside Pakistan, which had strict regulation until recently limiting online payments for services.

Local vendors instead offer cash-on-delivery options. Pakistan's junior minister for information technology Anusha Rahman said in a Monday statement that following the central bank's decision to announce new rules for e-commerce, the government would "solicit mechanism to coordinate with international e-commerce players such as PayPal, AliBaba etc encouraging them to establish their setup to enable e-commerce services in Pakistan."