Leon Neal—AFP
Adviser to the P.M. on Commerce hails ‘important’ milestone, adding it will benefit youth, SMEs and women entrepreneurs
Pakistanis will be able to sign up as sellers on e-commerce giant Amazon “within a few days,” Adviser to the P.M. on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood announced on Thursday, hailing the development as an “important” milestone.
“We have finally made it. Amazon will be adding Pakistan [to] its sellers’ list within a few days,” he posted on Twitter. “We have been engaged with Amazon since last year and now it’s happening. It is a great opportunity for our youth, small and medium enterprises and women entrepreneurs,” he added.
Crediting the development to the work of many people across the globe, he described it as “an important milestone of e-commerce policy.”
Despite Amazon’s physical presence in neighboring India, Pakistani retailers wishing to sell their products on its marketplace had to register their companies from other countries, as the e-commerce giant did not allow them to register with Pakistani credentials. With the decision to allow Pakistanis to join its sellers’ program, Amazon would ease their access to its platform.
While a welcome development for exports, this decision does not reflect any changes for Pakistani consumers: there has been on policy change on offering an “Amazon Pakistan.”
A day earlier Special Assistant to the P.M. on Political Information Shahbaz Gill had claimed that the Amazon listing was a major victory of the incumbent government. “Amazon has included Pakistan in its list of sellers,” he posted on Twitter in Urdu. “With this development, Pakistan has now joined the international market. This will result in billions in investment and produce employment opportunities. Thank you Imran Khan,” he added.
The Ministry of Commerce had last year announced that it had shared the names of 38 exporters with Amazon to register them for the platform. It had noted that this was initially limited to surgical, sports goods and home textiles sectors, but more sectors would be added in the future.