NIFT + Checkout.com Bring International Payment Solution to Pakistan - Android

NIFT and Checkout.com sign an undertaking for bringing international payment methods to Pakistan… Read More

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The Advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, chaired the 3rd meeting of the National e-Commerce Council, at the Ministry of Commerce today.

National e-Commerce Council (NeCC) is a body of representatives from the public and private sector and it was constituted in line with the directions of the National e-Commerce Policy of Pakistan, approved by the Federal Cabinet on 1st October 2019.

The main objective of the Council is to develop effective collaboration with all relevant sectors for the effective implementation of the e-Commerce Policy.

The first and second meetings of the Council were held under the chairmanship of the Advisor Commerce on 14th January 2020 and 18th June 2020 respectively.

The 3rd meeting of the NeCC was attended by all notified members of the Council from Public and Private sector.

Checkout.com to Partner with NIFT

One of the most important happenings of the meeting included the project kickoff between National Institutional Facilitation Technologies (NIFT) and Checkout.com for bringing international payment methods to Pakistan.

The implementation will enable both organizations to provide payment services through each other’s infrastructure and pursue commercial opportunities as a partnership.

This strives towards a borderless experience for business and consumers alike, promoting digital payments and settlements for exports and digital commerce across Pakistan.

Checkout.com is a global payment provider that offers services in more than 150 different currencies, in-country acquiring, robust fraud filters and reporting – all accessed through a single point of integration.

They accept payments from all major international card schemes, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Union Pay as well as popular alternative and local payment methods.

Checkout.com brings a unified offering of all the prominent international payment methods and wallets such as PayPal, AliPay, Apple Pay and Google Pay enabling the merchants to pay and run their businesses in Pakistan.

An MoU was also signed between P@SHA and Chain Store Association of Pakistan for working together to promote the use of indigenous technology and connectivity of the SMEs for promoting e-Commerce.

Integration of e-Commerce exports with WeBoC

The agenda items pertaining to FBR included an update on Cross Border e-Commerce procedure (Integration of e-Commerce exports with WeBoC), and progress on the formulation of Return Policy for e-Commerce exports.

SECP briefed about the facilitative registration mechanism introduced for the e-Commerce sector.

The private sector Sub-committee, formulated on Financial Inclusion and Digitization through payment infrastructure during the second NeCC meeting, shared its progress over the digital transformation in payments.

The Sub-Committee was formed with the aim to identify and explore opportunities to promote e-Commerce through a gradual shift towards digital payments.

The presentation also portrayed the current state of the digital payment landscape and the need to introduce some taxation incentives for encouraging the masses towards digital adoption.

Terms of Reference for the Consultative Group on Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) (approved during the 2nd meeting of National e-Commerce Council) were also shared for approval of the Council.

The role of WEE would be the representation of the economic interests of women, provision of policy inputs to the National e-Commerce Council (NeCC) in order to promote gender mainstreaming through national e-Commerce policy and other trade-related policies.

Pakistan Post with Enhanced Logistics

Discussing the logistics sector, Pakistan Post briefed the participants about the latest development made for the integration of Pakpost with National Single Window, the digital transformation of the National Postal Service with increased transparency through tracking and traceability of shipments and a new planned initiative of collect and return services for the exchange and return of articles through postal counters.

Taxes

An update was also shared from FBR and PRAs on the harmonization of taxation regime through National Tax Council and taxation facilitation introduced for the private sector with the intention to promote e-Commerce.

Data Protection Bill

Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication updated about personal data protection bill the revised draft of which will be available for public comments within a month or two.

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